#Again. I would not call these men very shippable with each other. And I would never tell anyone not to bitch and be snobby. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mandrs-writes · 3 years

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41 Reason why I ship Ereri

Eren and Levi is my all-time favorite ship. These two mean the world to me. And while I am not under any illusion that their relationship is canon, they’re canon in my heart and I want to share with you all the many different reasons why they’re so fucking shippable. Here are my 41 reasons 😊

1. Similarities in their past -- both willing to kill for the ones they love

Eren saves Mikasa by killing two men when he’s just a kid

Levi was trained to kill at a young age. It’s implied that he killed the people that hurt his dear friend Isabel in ACWNR

2. Momma’s boys -- definitely a parallel between them in these two shots.

3. Both had to watch their mom die and understand the pain of losing the people they love

4. Parallels between Levi, Isabel, and Farlan, and Eren, Mikasa, and Armin -- both are looking up at the stars and dreaming of something more

5. Eren has always admired Captain Levi. Just look how stars truck he is 🤩

6.The first time he meets Levi, he sees the Wings of Freedom on his back. The framing of this shot shows that Levi represents freedom for Eren

7. Levi is intrigued and impressed by the fire/determination when he first meets Eren. He is a spark of hope for Levi.

8. Despite many people claiming this scene is ‘abusive’ it is far from it. While it is brutal in nature, Levi’s aggressive display was the only way for him to save Eren from being handed over to the MP. Erwin knew that Levi would need to show the courtroom that he was strong enough to ‘handle’ Eren in order for the MP to give Eren over to the SC.

It’s even explained to Eren after the fact that it was a necessary show of power in order to save him.

It wasn’t something Levi wanted to do -- it’s clear he feels bad about how he handled Eren by asking him if he resented him.

Despite everything, Eren understands why Levi had to do what he did and admits to not being resentful towards Levi, who ultimately appears relieved by that admission

9. They catch each other staring/giving each other eyes 😏 showing that they have an innate interest in each other

10. Eren is surprised that Captain Levi is so keen to following orders from the higher ups. When Petra tells him about his past, he’s shocked and wonders why Levi would join be in the Survey Corps. Eren definitely shows interest and curiosity in this scene and appears to want to know more about his mysterious Captain

11. They’re super cute together 🥺 Just look at theeeem

12. Levi is caught smirking at Eren when talking about him being creepy. Okay buddy 😏

13. Levi sees that Eren is a monster and still accepts him anyway. He doesn’t judge or condemn him for being the way that he is. In the visual novel “Burning Bright in the Forest of the Night”, Levi even refers to him as “a beautiful monster”

14. He always gives Eren a choice, allowing him to make his own decisions, and be his own person. He’s only ever encouraged Eren to be true to himself. He’s never tried to change him

Even when Eren is struggling with accessing his father’s memories and Hange is bombarding him with questions, Levi defends his strange behavior

15. Levi defends Eren based on his “intuition” when everyone else sees him as a monster needing to be put down. Instead, he trusts Eren, standing between him and his squad.

16. Levi visibly panics when he hears Eren transform during the Female Titan arc. He’s clearly worried about him and changes gears to try and save him

17. Levi feels like he failed by protecting Eren and he is visibly distraught when Mikasa calls him out on it.

18. Levi makes up for his failure by only caring about saving Eren, whereas Mikasa seems more interested in killing the Female Titan. He has to talk her down

19. Levi is able to motivate Eren and give him confidence when he’s feeling unsure about himself

20. Levi helps mold Eren into the person he becomes later in the story. Eren obviously looks up to Levi a lot and learns from him in more ways than one

21. Levi gives Eren the power/motivation to choose again, encouraging him to believe in himself.

22. They both have righteous anger

23. Eren is super determined to impress Levi and is visibly upset when he fails to meet his expectations

(Just look at the gay panic)

24. Eren unintentionally insults Levi when he calls Rod Reiss a tiny old man. While Levi appears unfazed, Eren visibly panics, clearly showing how much he cares about Levi’s opinion of him

Also I just love this scene. It’s funnyyy

25. Levi shows concern for Eren on more than one occasion

26. Levi has a thing for Eren’s ass... apparently

Just casually kicking his butt

and talking about it 😏

27. Eren isn’t afraid to stand up to Levi, despite his harsh exterior. This just goes to show that Eren understands that Levi is more compassionate and empathetic than he lets people believe

28. While Levi is conflicted about who to save with the Titan serum, he ultimately picks Armin.

One of the reasons he choses Armin is because of what Eren says about how Armin is good and has dreams, which reminds Levi of the moment that they sat under the stars and talked about the ocean. Levi shows compassion for Eren and his friends

29. Levi gets upset when Erwin tells him to protect the horses instead of Eren

30. Even after losing his best friend, Levi comforts Eren and his friends, letting them know that he does not regret his decision, encouraging them to not regret it as well. Despite being in pain himself, he’s a pillar of strength and comfort for Eren and the others

31. Levi is sympathetic towards Eren’s situation after the Battle of Shiganshina and lets him out early despite his insubordination

32. Levi is disappointed in Eren after what he did in Marley and shows just how upset/affected he was by him leaving by kicking him on the airship. The scene feels very personal and while I could go on and explain why I think it’s incredibly meaningful for their relationship, snkception does a great job of explaining it. You can read their full post here

33. Levi is a protective boyfriend

34. When Eren keeps an important secret, Levi tells them they’ll talk about it later. There’s something incredibly personal about the way he says it that implies it’ll be a private conversation amongst other things

35. Their height difference though 😍

36. Levi is obviously important to Eren, since he shows up in his memory shards

37. Levi is visibly upset when his fellow soldiers talk about feeding Eren to someone else. After everything they’d been through, that’s the last thing that Levi wants.

Also, I think it’s important to note that when Levi remembers Eren, he doesn’t remember him as a monster, despite calling everyone talking about him that way. He remembers Eren the first time they met, when Eren was helpless and merely human

38. Despite his promise made early in the story to kill Eren if he ever went rogue or lost control, he tries desperately to come up with another solution, anyway out of killing Eren

39. When they realize that killing Eren might be the only way, Levi is visibly distraught

In paths, he is the only one on his knees, he’s so tired, beaten down, and lost over what to do that he’s unable to stand and hold himself up on the airship

40. There was so much that Levi wanted to tell Eren... what it was, I can only speculate. But something tells me he wanted to tell Eren everything, including his feelings for him

41. Lastly, they’re opposites. The sun and the moon, summer and winter, fire and ice, yin and yang. Eren is fiery, energetic and passionate and Levi is cool, calm, and introspective. Their dynamic is truly beautiful and I genuinely believe Levi is one of the few people who understand Eren completely and accepts him without judgment

#ereri #aot #snk #spoilers #levi ackerman #eren jaeger #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #eren x levi #i love them so much #riren #snk manga spoilers

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btsandvmin · 3 years

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why do u think fandom brozone vmin so much? it doesnt happen nearly as often w other ships

I have talked about this a great deal before, and for good reason. It does happen a lot, and it has always been like this. At least I can speak for the years I have been in the fandom as the first post I ever made properly was about this exact topic. (The “bromance” issue) It’s short and a bit outdated, and honestly we also have to admit that while a lot of people still keep insisting on Vmin not being shippable and being “brozoned or friendzoned” there are also a lot more people who both ship Vmin and even see actual real potential in them being more. (You can even tell by the increase in analysis here on tumblr.)

Personally regarding the “issue” of how Vmin are viewed I am no longer as annoyed with it as I used to be. I do think it’s mainly a problem when other shippers come and say it about Vmin, because that is frankly just hypocritical. I have also written Normalizing Vmin or “Vmin” and Shipping vs Believing that explains more about my views on the subject of friendzoning and shipping as a whole. (Personally I feel Vmin get more friendzoned than brozoned, but that’s just a minor detail.)

But your question was about why you think the fandom brozone/friendzone Vmin so much, so let’s get to that.

First of all I obviously think there are several reasons, but this is all based on my speculations after being in this fandom for so long and what I have seen. Every person could have their own very different reasons to why they think the way they do. I think all the reasons play a part, but might not be equally important and might also not apply to every single person, but rather affect the fandom as a whole in one way or another.

So let’s break it down to the things I think play the biggest role in why Vmin are seen as platonic, regardless of if they are or not, just simply compared to a lot of the other ships.

1. They have since the start used the label “friend” or “best friend” to describe each other. In particular the label “chingu” of course, which in actuality is used to described someone of the same age that you are close with.

2. The English translation and constant use of “friend” will when repeated constantly get stuck in people’s minds and affect how they view a dynamic. Just how “hyung” gets translated to brother, but a lot less well known and noted by the fandom. Basically the western fandom will likely get even more platonic feelings towards Vmin because of the word being translated to friends.

3. Compared to the other “chingus” in the group, Namjoon and Hobi, there is much more emphasis on Vmin as the same age and as being close and best friends. Namjoon himself made a comment on this. I also think the use of “friends” or more recently “soulmates” by editors is a reply to this, basically that the editors too use these words because they are used a lot by the members first. Hence it gets doubly reinforced. Every time we hear it or read it we get another reminder of Vmin being friends.

4. Their early dymanics were less soft. A lot of their interactions were teasing like Taehyung’s “Jiminie pabo” and fans saw it as two siblings or friends rather than as the “teasing your crush”. Basically people didn't read their behavior as romantic. When BTS first started Vmin already called each other best friends, and that stuck, even more so in combination with people basically not seeing any "spark" between them. I would call this preference in a lot of cases.

5. There were in the beginning already a lot of competition between ships. Jimin often focused in a lot on JK and basically flirted with him while he at the same time brushed off Tae when he did similar towards Jimin. Meanwhile Tae and JK had a very physical relationship as well and JK often seemed the most open and comfortable with Tae. I think both of Vmin kind of pushing themselves on and teasing JK was a dynamic many shippers like. Meanwhile you aslo had Yoonmin getting popular due to Yoongi seeming a bit soft on Jimin and Jimin being very open and loud with wanting attention from Yoongi.

6. Some people find Vmin's dynamics boring. To a lot of shippers “too” obvious closeness might be a little boring and get labeled as just being friends or bros. This was in particular evident in the early days of Vmin. It also matters for fan content, and we can see a lot of Vmin fiction use a bit more “soft” tropes and might not get as many readers as more conflict driven plot. For me I would also include Vmin’s bias towards each other as another point here, that people might see as too much if they are a couple and have to hide. Basically a lot of people don’t see friendship to romance as the most interesting, or the "obvious and equal dynamic" as interesting. BTS said Vmin were the closest or the “best duo” etc. but since all of them were close people picked based on preference for their ship. Of course this still applies to shippers now, they fall for the type of dynamic they like, but now they also have a easier time getting convinced by material from other shippers. Having analysis is another thing that can make a ship more appealing as well.

7. Speaking of, fan content getting created and spread will reinforce certain images. Reading BTS fanfiction or watching moment videos you will see a lot of Vmin being “the best friends”. Basically once the image is used a lot, it will get more spread and used even more. It will be a constant in many places and when talking to a lot of people. It will also of course pull people in to other ships that makes Vmin impossible. Not to mention the big ships will get bigger and spread more easily.

8. Now this might not be true for a lot of people. But I have come across a lot of fans who seem to think being a friend is something that makes romance less likely. For me I want my partner to be my best friend as well, but a lot of people do see these two things as mutually exclusive. Many see friend and lover as two very different things and that you have one best friend and one partner, not someone that are both. Basically just the view on friendships and labels and how that might lead to some feeling being romantically involved is something separate from a close friendship.

9. Other ships spreading the narrative even further. It’s easier to just call Vmin friends, honestly. It’s often hard to deny their closeness (not that you should have to just because you ship something else, doesn’t change reality). But Vmin being so close and being part of the three biggest ships in BTS of course their label as best friends will be spread and used even more by those shippers. And because of the size of those ships it eventually gets turned into not just those shippers views, but the whole fandom’s.

10. More recently I would also say fear is a reason why people push back and try to remind the fandom that Vmin are “just friends”. Because we have very bad examples of what happens when shipping goes too far, basically it makes many non shippers try to protect Vmin from the same faith. Not a bad thing (again, as long as you don’t ship something else and is a hypocrite), but it surely does further the narrative of Vmin being very platonic. (A bad group is of course included here, which are homophobic fans, but since they feel the same about all ships it’s just a sidenote.)

11. Lastly, and probably most influentual, is the fact that Vmin and BTS friendzone Vmin in many ways, constantly.

I won’t go into all the examples, but I think we all know a few moments even at the top of our heads by now.

I mean.... They called their song about being soulmates and wanting to be together for eternity "Friends". And maybe that's what they are, but they sure like to remind us.

So we have times when BTS or Vmin basically remind us and spells it out even more clearly that Vmin are FRIENDS. They use it very very often, and personally to me sometimes at very weird moments. Even so, the things most fans see will of course be what they say. Vmin are friends and that is it.

And at face value that is true. I just personally don’t see being best friends (and soulmates) as meaning they can’t be more as well. Especially since they wouldn’t even be able to say more than that. I mean, if Vmin are basically described as the closest in BTS, then why does that mean they have less odds of being real? Being friends doesn’t have to equal being only friends.

However, Vmin have in fact said things against being interested/denied the other, I don’t want to lie. I am sure some would see this as 100% truth and use it againt the possibility of Vmin being real. Like when Taehyung basically said he would rather date Hobi.

However, Jimin said he would definitely choose Taehyung to date, but that gets ignored by people who ship Jimin with others, so it’s really just about choosing what fits your narrative. All ships have contradicting moments or statments or answers where they answer two different things at two different times in general.

We also have how Jimin answered back to Taehyung about liking men by saying he isnt “like that” to Taehyung.

There are moments like this, and even though they might be small and forgotten by most I think they could in a sense still have registered in some fans who then basically managed to spreak the “vmin are just bros/friends” into the more common perception.

However we also have opposite moments when they try to appeal to each other, or like when Taehyung asks Jimin to be the girlfriend etc. and personally though I do take these things into account it’s a bit like when you see members say “men can’t do this or that” and it doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t be queer. To me even though there are things against most ships, there are still a lot that speaks for some, and that’s why I remain unsure.

Sometimes you might get more defensive or nervous if there is some truth in there as well. It’s all about interpretation, even though I don’t want to blatantly ignore what they say. But since they have said and done directly contradicting things (like how Jimin said he would choose to date Tae while also saying he doesn’t act like “that” to Tae, or how they have changed a lot of answers in general) I also don’t see it as something definitely against them being more. Not to mention time can change things as well.

In the end though this isn’t about what other things there might be that show Vmin might be more than friends or not, but simply reasons for the fandom’s view of them as platonic. (Personally I think they do a lot of things not normally seen as platonic, which is obviously the reason for me having this blog and writing anlysis on them.)

So, Vmin is friendzoned by the group, and by shippers of bigger ships, and even by themselves at times. Then everything else is reinforcement and inability to view them as anything more than friends.

There are some other things I think might play a part in it as well, but most comes down to personal preferences or what you get exposed to. Like who is the bias of the shipper and what things do they come across to make them a shipper, what kind of dynamics do they like etc. (It's more likely for someone who "falls" for JK to have JK in his ship, for example. Because they will focus on him and notice his interactions and then likely fall for a certain dynamic.)

History is a huge factor in general, and trying to change the perspective of the fandom might not be easy. But with a lot of new fans coming in and seeing with their own eyes how Vmin have behaved the last two years in particular, I think we can see a change.

Vmin are loved by the majority of this fandom, and that’s far better than them having people be anti them because of their ship being too big or too toxic. So in the end I do feel it’s a good things for them and for us that Vmin is being viewed as mostly platonic while they manage to slowly include more “normally not platonic things” into their platonic box. (I mean we are at a point where they can casually mention sleeping together and sing about being soulmates and hold hands in public).

Thank you for the ask and I hope you found this interesting. This is a topic I have a lot of opinions on and think is interesting myself, so I hope you enjoyed this post. No matter what we all know that one truth won’t change; 95z is love!

#vmin #vmin analysis #vmin friendzoned #vmin friends #vmin bromance #btsandvmin ask #btsandvmin answer #btsandvmin

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overlourdes · 4 years

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SHIPPING INFO // Answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog. REPOST. Don’t reblog.

(i’m mostly going to talk about lola in this --- because levi is married, and dr. fish is dr. fish (honestly he’s just not in the stage of his development as a character for me to really be ready to consider shipping). however, i’m still open to doing ship things with those two, mostly dr. fish, so if something comes up or whatever, i AM open to that. also --- i’m willing to rp lola at various ages and various AUs, which i feel is relevant.)

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?: i just really don’t have one. i don’t have any ships that are really very developed with lola. like, there are things that definitely exist and i enjoy, and that certainly have a lot of potential, but as is i’m not going to call anything an “otp” (also it’s 2020, we don’t say otp anymore).

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: development of a ship is really important to me. i don’t like to jump forward, and i really don’t like to get into heavier or more intimate stuff before we’ve really talked about them a LOT and had several interactions. i especially don’t like doing fluff in general, so to have that come up too early really gets me anxious cause i don’t wanna be an asshole about it. it can happen but we really have to get there naturally.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?: lola really doesn’t like younger men, but someone could be maybe ten years younger than him at most. he doesn’t care so much about if they’re older (this goes for all ages, but in his main verse obviously there probably isn’t going to be anyone much older).

personally, as for his younger verses, while it’s part of lola’s canon history that he’s been with men much older than him, that’s not something i want to ship. depending on how young he is, i guess maybe a fifteen year gap would be fine. twenty is a lot if he’s under 40 or so.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: yeah, for the most part. i mean, i think i’ve been too willing to explore the possibility of ships in the past and ended up discussing something with someone who i really didn’t mesh with ooc, so the other mun really has to be someone i like and get along with.

lola also just isn’t going to be that shippable. he’s a very difficult person. he really has a lot of issues when it comes to intimacy and his emotions, especially when he’s younger, and can behave in ways that would realistically drive most people off. this is mostly when he was in his 20s; while he still has a lot of issues, it’s easier stuff to deal with, but he’s still not someone who can just easily get into a “normal” relationship.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NS.FW?: i’ve written some one-off smut things before, but if it’s an actual thread, i think it’s n.sfw once there’s any mention of arousal or genitals or whatever. i’d personally prefer to move the thread off-site IF this ever came up, which in my whole time on tumblr this has happened only once, and it happened very naturally and i really enjoyed how that went down. smut is not something i’ve ever looked to write, but i’m not against it, either. again, i would like to have a connection with the other mun before we go there, just for my comfort. it’s less that i’m embarrassed or prudish about these things, it’s that i get nervous wondering if i’m being too raunchy or something or crossing a boundary. that, and, if you don’t really know me and try to write smut with me, i wonder why you don’t care about my boundaries.

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?: lola is very unlucky with ships and doesn’t have anything with any active muses on tumblr, but he’s had things before.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?: not necessarily, but i wouldn’t mind if they did. i also wanna be clear that, even if our muses haven’t interacted, if you think, okay, i think these two could potentially be shipped, i don’t mind discussing that as a possible eventuality, with the understanding that it really just may not work out.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: i really just don’t get a lot of ships, but, i’d like to have some good ones some day. in other words, i’m definitely not bogged down with ships, so definitely explore that possibility with me.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: yes

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?: it’s not exactly a priority, because it really can’t be, but i do tend to get really invested in certain ships, if i end up really liking them. i really wish we could all start off with a mentality of, if one of us gets bored or loses interest in this, can we just tell each other? i don’t like feeling like my partner is more interested than i am, or vice versa. i’d like us both to be comfortable saying, you know i’m just not feelin this that much anymore. it wouldn’t have to mean, this ship is cancelled forever, but we’d just be on the same page. idk if this is really all that relevant to this question but i felt it needed saying.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: ain’t got no damn FANDOMS in here

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: interact with me, even if it’s just liking my ooc posts. send me memes. IM me (i may IM you first if you do the above enough, cause this shows me you’re interested, and i’m liable to return that interest). if i feel like our muses have chemistry, i’ll say something. if i feel like lola could have feelings for your muse, i’ll also say something, because i’m also down for that unrequited shit.

snatched from: @themercifulmother tagging: steal it

#i know i got off topic some in some of these answers but whatever #its all relevant shipping info #i know lola's not like ur typical shipping material but u know. to whom it may concern.#also i'm willing to write him in his younger verses #like i said

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tacitwhisky · 5 years

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Jon / Sansa Reread - Jon I, AGOT

< Previous Chapter (Bran I) | Next Chapter (Arya I) >

In which Jon gets drunk at a feast, embarrases himself, and talks to Tyrion.

After his introduction in Bran I, this is our first glimpse into Jon’s head, and boy is it a thorough one. Despite being a somewhat simple chapter from a plot perspective, in just a few short interactions Martin packs in a huge amount of material to show how Jon sees himself, his bastard identity, and how he engages with the world and his place in it, threads that will continue throughout the entirety of the series.

(I’ll be linking to several in depth metas about each thread throughout the reread, but also gathering them together in a further reading section at the end of the post for convenience.)

It was the fourth hour of the welcoming feast laid for the king. Jon’s brothers and sisters had been seated with the royal children, beneath the raised platform where Lord and Lady Stark hosted the king and queen.

Jon starts the chapter exiled to a literal lower tier of society. Later in the chapter he’ll tell his uncle Benjen it’s because Catelyn doesn’t want him sullying the main table as a bastard because of the presence of the royal family. This brings up an interesting aspect of Jon’s position within the Stark household; not only does he exist in a sort of liminal space between two different classes, noble and not, but where exactly he exists on that spectrum is fluid and fickle.

Once he goes to the wall Donal Noye will rightly point out all the privilege Jon grew up with, but something not really discussed is just how fragile that privilege is; at the drop of a pin Jon can go from son to bastard, from sitting at the high table to sitting at the low. Stability is hugely important for children, and not having any growing up is nearly as damaging as simply not having privilege to begin with. From a young age Jon would’ve internalized that the world was an unstable and untrustworthy place and on some level instinctively understood he had only himself to rely on. As maester Luwin says, “bastards grow faster than other children.”

This actually helps explain why Jon is so proactive any time he enters a new environment. Time after time in the series Jon will be thrust into a new environment and immediately start gathering allies and taking decisive action. At Castle Black he quickly forms a clique (Sam, Grenn, Pyp) and confronts Alliser Thorne. Once he’s Lord Commander he gets the wildlings on his side and immediately starts rebuilding and manning the Wall.

This is an interesting meta on how Jon tends to gather up the downtrodden as his allies, and the ways that while Jon may not realize it, it’s not completely altruistic because by taking them in he’s also making them loyal and beholden to him, and is really just a good rundown of the practicality and moral greyness lurking in Jon. To quote from it for a minute:

“Jon’s advocacy for Sam looked like a thing he did because he’s a good person, and I ultimately do think that’s the case. Still, he did something which required absolutely no effort on his part, and look what he got out of it. Sam isn’t just the best friend Jon will ever have, he’s a powerful asset to the Watch and he’s Jon’s most loyal supporter.”

Though never explicitly thought on by Jon, the very physical illustration here in the first chapter of having to sit at a lower table than his brothers and sisters because of simply who’s visiting must’ve crystalized for him how tenuous his place in the Stark household really is, and probably helps drive him to ask Benjen to join the Night’s Watch later in the chapter.

In honor of the occasion, his lord father would doubtless permit each child a glass of wine, but no more than that. Down here on the benches, there was no one to stop Jon drinking as much as he had a thirst for.

And he was finding that he had a man’s thirst, to the raucous delight of the youths around him, who urged him on every time he drained a glass. They were fine company, and Jon relished the stories they were telling, tales of battle and bedding and the hunt. He was certain that his companions were more entertaining than the king’s offspring. He had sated his curiosity about the visitors when they made their entrance. The procession had passed not a foot from the place he had been given on the bench, and Jon had gotten a good long look at them all.

Methinks the bastard doth protest too much...

On a more serious note, throughout the series Jon will have to navigate through different levels of society, interacting with thieves, lords, wildlings, and two different kings, and this chapter lays out the foundation for just how naturally it comes to him. He’s perfectly comfortable with the other squires and youths (besides his resentment at being banished).

His lord father had come first, escorting the queen. She was as beautiful as men said. A jeweled tiara gleamed amidst her long golden hair, its emeralds a perfect match for the green of her eyes. His father helped her up the steps to the dais and led her to her seat, but the queen never so much as looked at him. Even at fourteen, Jon could see through her smile.

This is a narrative trick Martin uses a lot throughout the series: he’ll start the chapter in the present (the feast), have the character think back to what’s happened in the past (the entrance of the royal party) and then back to the present (feast again). It’s a good way of filling in what happened between chapters for a character (gaps that can be upwards of seven or eight chapters later in the series) without boring the reader or wasting their time.

After them came the children. Little Rickon first, managing the long walk with all the dignity a three-year-old could muster. Jon had to urge him on when he stopped to visit. Close behind came Robb, in grey wool trimmed with white, the Stark colors. He had the Princess Myrcella on his arm.

Having the Starks escort in one by one the royal family is a nice way of both introducing them, their relationship to Jon, and also emphasize Jon’s isolation: they are literally closer to the royal family than him at the moment.

She [Myrcella] was a wisp of a girl, not quite eight, her hair a cascade of golden curls under a jeweled net. Jon noticed the shy looks she gave Robb as they passed between the tables and the timid way she smiled at him. He decided she was insipid. Robb didn’t even have the sense to realize how stupid she was; he was grinning like a fool.

There’s two things going on here. The first is Jon is feeling left out and so he’s transferring his anger onto Myrcella by calling her insipid in his head. But part of his distaste comes from something more complicated, and is the first indication of Jon’s low key dislike for traditionally feminine women throughout the series.

I read a really great meta about this once (which is unfortunately lost to time no matter how many times I look for it), that outlines how while Jon values women as a whole and has no problem respecting non-traditional women (Arya, Ygritte, Alys, Val) he has issues with traditionally feminine women (Myrcella, Catelyn, Selyse, Gilly), and that it almost for sure originates with Catelyn; she’s the head of the female half of Winterfell and symbolized all refined westerosi femininity for Jon growing up. And considering how openly hostile she was to him it’s really not surprising he’d be uncomfortable with the femininity she embodied.

This idea is actually the origin of my Jon of the Kingsguard fic: the idea that both Jon and Sansa start in a place where they don’t respect each other (he for her perceived feminine weakness, she for his bastard status) and by the end have grown and learned to appreciate what they once didn’t. Overall I wish it was a side of Jon’s character that was explored a little more in fic, especially fic that has him interacting with Sansa (though this is an aspect completely missing from show!Jon so that may be why it doesn’t much come up).

His half sisters escorted the royal princes. Arya was paired with plump young Tommen, whose white-blond hair was longer than hers. Sansa, two years older, drew the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon. He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon’s vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister’s hair and his mother’s deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell’s Great Hall.

This entire paragraph is very clearly about Joffrey, with Sansa as a kind of afterthought. It’s one of the frustrating things about how Martin writes Sansa, but outside of Arya (and Robb a little) we really don’t get any idea of what her relationship on a day to day basis was like with the other starklings, especially Jon.

Even just a sentence here, like how Rickon came to say hi to Jon and had to be shooed back into line, could’ve done a lot to characterize Jon and Sansa’s relationship. Did she purposefully not look at him? Or did she look at him pityingly? Offer an encouraging smile? We don’t know.

In the show Sansa says she was awful to Jon, but there’s no actual indication that’s the case in the books from what I remember, and just that one line in the show. There really is just a black hole where their relationship should be. It’s one of the things that I think make them so shippable to people: they don’t ever think of each other as siblings so the incest vibe can be as high or low as you want, and that blank space can be filled with whatever headcanon you find interesting or appealing.

I’ll get into this more in Sansa’s chapters, but a lot of this I think is the legacy of Sansa being a late add on to the Starks and one primarily created to contrast with Arya. While there’s no doubt that Martin likes Sansa, there’s a lot of ways that here in AGOT she’s an underserved and under developed character. This early in the writing process I think Martin just hadn’t really thought through her relationships with the other starklings.

The last of the high lords to enter were his uncle, Benjen Stark of the Night’s Watch, and his father’s ward, young Theon Greyjoy. Benjen gave Jon a warm smile as he went by. Theon ignored him utterly, but there was nothing new in that.

This is more fuel for my theory from last chapter that Theon ignored Jon because he wanted to stay close to privilege.

Back in the present, Jon sulks, tries to convince himself he’s having a good time, feeds Ghost, and then Benjen comes to sit with him.

Benjen Stark gave Jon a long look. “Don’t you usually eat at table with your brothers?”

“Most times,” Jon answered in a flat voice. “But tonight Lady Stark thought it might give insult to the royal family to seat a bastard among them.”

“I see.” His uncle glanced over his shoulder at the raised table at the far end of the hall. “My brother does not seem very festive tonight.”

Jon had noticed that too. A bastard had to learn to notice things, to read the truth that people hid behind their eyes.

I’ve heard the last part referred to as early installment weirdness, and I think that’s partially true. Jon doesn’t really mention it again, but he is remarkably perceptive and willing to learn and listen to others later in the series. I’d also argue he has a low key reactive paranoia to almost everyone he meets that he doesn’t immediately like, which can appear like him being perceptive, but is more just suspicion.

Benjen gave Jon a careful, measuring look. “You don’t miss much, do you, Jon? We could use a man like you on the Wall.”

Jon swelled with pride. “Robb is a stronger lance than I am, but I’m the better sword, and Hullen says I sit a horse as well as anyone in the castle.”

“Notable achievements.”

“Take me with you when you go back to the Wall,” Jon said in a sudden rush. “Father will give me leave to go if you ask him, I know he will.”

Uncle Benjen studied his face carefully. “The Wall is a hard place for a boy, Jon.”

“I am almost a man grown,” Jon protested. “I will turn fifteen on my next name day, and Maester Luwin says bastards grow up faster than other children.”

Notice how Benjen first says Jon would be good at the Wall, then when Jon shows interest tells him it’s too tough and manly and adult for him like he didn’t just suggest it himself. He offers something, then when Jon reaches for it he slaps his hand.

“Daeren Targaryen was only fourteen when he conquered Dorne,” Jon said. The Young Dragon was one of his heroes.

“A conquest that lasted a summer,” his uncle pointed out. “Your Boy King lost ten thousand men taking the place, and another fifty trying to hold it. Someone should have told him that war isn’t a game.” He took another sip of wine. “Also,” he said, wiping his mouth, “Daeren Targaryen was only eighteen when he died. Or have you forgotten that part?”

More negging on Benjen’s part implying that Jon is a child who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. More importantly though, this is one of the first indications of just how idealistic Jon fundamentally is. There’s a lot of meta that goes into the parallels between that idealism and belief in stories and Sansa’s love of songs of knights and ladies and how that shapes her worldview.

And much like Sansa, throughout his character arc Jon has to grow past that initial faith in stories and grapple with the reality of war and loss and ruling. It’s easy to picture the Young Dragon as one of the heroes of AGOT’s Jon, but much harder to picture the Jon of ADWD thinking so favorably of a bold and brash king that went to conquer another country; not after his experiences with loss and the wildlings.

“I forget nothing,” Jon boasted. The wine was making him bold. He tried to sit very straight, to make himself seem taller. “I want to serve in the Night’s Watch, Uncle.”

He had thought on it long and hard, lying abed at night while his brothers slept around him. Robb would someday inherit Winterfell, would command great armies as the Warden of the North. Bran and Rickon would be Robb’s bannermen and rule holdfasts in his name. His sisters Arya and Sansa would marry the heirs of other great houses and go south as mistress of castles of their own. But what place could a bastard hope to earn?

The sad part of this is Jon’s thoughts here about his future are completely rational. One of Ned’s major failures as a parent is how unclear he’s been with Jon about his future. This meta goes into it more in depth, but there are a lot of futures Ned could’ve set up for Jon (giving him a holdfast in the gift or becoming Winterfell’s Castellan, for example), but he never communicates them to Jon or really seems to have thought about them. A lot of this springs from Ned’s own trauma; because of just how brutally his family was halved he seems to want to keep his children young for as long as possible. This was more or less ok for the rest of the starklings, but for Jon whose position is already tenuous, it would only make him more insecure.

Ned should’ve sat Jon down at a much younger age and explained what the shape of his life could look like. Because he didn’t, Jon takes matters into his own hands (going back to the proactive thing) and decides that the best option for him is to join a lifelong half penal colony institution at fourteen.

“You don’t know what you’re asking, Jon. The Night’s Watch is a sworn brotherhood. We have no families. None of us will ever father sons. Our wife is duty. Our mistress is honor.”

“A bastard can have honor too,” Jon said. “I am ready to swear your oath.”

“You are a boy of fourteen,” Benjen said. “Not a man, not yet. Until you have known a woman, you cannot understand what you would be giving up.”

“I don’t care about that!” Jon said hotly.

“You might, if you knew what it meant,” Benjen said. “If you knew what the oath would cost you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son.”

Jon felt anger rise inside him. “I’m not your son!”

Benjen Stark stood up. “More’s the pity.” He put a hand on Jon’s shoulder. “Come back to me after you’ve fathered a few bastards of your own, and we’ll see how you feel.”

Some people have said that the scene with Catelyn and Jon at Bran’s bedside is what permanently put them off Catelyn as a character; I get that, because this scene does the same to Benjen for me. It is such an utter dick move on Benjen’s part to put down Jon because he hasn’t gotten laid yet, to equate sex with maturity, and to taunt Jon with the fathering bastards thing which he has to know is a sore subject for Jon. Jon at this point is drunk and at the height of his insecurity about his place in Winterfell, and instead of comforting him or talking him through it, Benjen preys on his insecurity and dismisses him.

This meta makes a convincing case that Jon joining the Night’s Watch at such a young age is a comprehensive failure of all the adults in his life, and it’s hard to argue against. To quote from it:

“Both Starks completely and utterly failed to provide Jon with the necessary information he needed to make a conscious and informed decision to commit to that institution. They let him, a teenager who feels he has no place in the world to call his, make a decision based on incomplete information then held him to it, and allowed him to walk into binding lifelong commitment completely unprepared.”

Jon trembled. “I will never father a bastard,” he said carefully. “Never!” He spat it out like venom.

What’s interesting about this line is not just that it gives us insight into Jon’s views on his sexuality, but it shows just how much Jon internalizes his bastard status. It’s not just that he’s dispirited that other people view him with prejudice and treat him as lesser, but he also internalizes that into his view of himself and how he thinks he should act. Everything is internalized because of the ideas of personal responsibility that Ned instilled in him.

Suddenly he realized that the table had fallen silent, and they were all looking at him. He felt the tears begin to well behind his eyes. He pushed himself to his feet.

“I must be excused,” he said with the last of his dignity. He whirled and bolted before they could see him cry. He must have drunk more wine than he had realized. His feet got tangled under him as he tried to leave, and he lurched sideways into a serving girl and sent a flagon of spiced wine crashing to the floor. Laughter boomed all around him, and Jon felt hot tears on his cheeks. Someone tried to steady him. He wrenched free of their grip and ran, half-blind, for the door. Ghost followed close at his heels, out into the night.

As a writing technique this is a good way for Martin to have us identify and sympathize with Jon. We’ve all been in embarrassing situations, and kicking your character in the gut is always a good way to get the audience on their side (up to a certain point; after that it just alienates us from them). It’s also a good way of emphasizing Jon’s youth and reminding us that the kid is barely fourteen.

(And where is Benjen for this? Such a dick.)

Once he makes his way outside Jon runs into Tyrion who’s perched high on a ledge. We then have the most blatant example of early installment weirdness in the whole series when Tyrion backflips off the ledge (gymnastic prowess that will never get mentioned again until ADWD). Tyrion then tries to pet Ghost.

The wolf pup padded closer and nuzzled at Jon’s face, but he kept a wary eye on Tyrion Lannister, and when the dwarf reached out to pet him, he drew back and bared his fangs in a silent snarl.

“Shy, isn’t he?” Lannister observed.

“Sit, Ghost,” Jon commanded. “That’s it. Keep still.” He looked up at the dwarf. “You can touch him now. He won’t move until I tell him to. I’ve been training him.”

“I see,” Lannister said. He ruffled the snow-white fur between Ghost’s ears and said, “Nice wolf.”

“If I wasn’t here, he’d tear out your throat,” Jon said. It wasn’t actually true yet, but it would be.

This is such a hilariously teenager thing to exaggerate and boast about. It’s also a subtle hint of how comfortable Jon is with violence, a theme we’ll come back to in later chapters. He’s drunk here though, so we should cut him some slack anyway.

“You’re Ned Stark’s bastard, aren’t you?”

Jon felt a coldness pass right through him. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.

“Did I offend you?” Lannister said. “Sorry. Dwarfs don’t have to be tactful. Generations of capering fools in motley have won me the right to dress badly and say any damn thing that comes into my head.” He grinned. “You are the bastard, though.”

“Lord Eddard Stark is my father,” Jon admitted stiffly.

While Tyrion’s dwarfism and Jon’s bastardy both marginalize them, the stereotypes between the two aren’t the same, and because he’s older, Tyrion has found a way to perform his when it’s useful (even as he hates the stereotype itself). In this case it’s the Wise Fool. It’s an interesting contrast with Jon, who will never quite pick up this skill outside of his time with the wildlings where the stereotype of the bitter and treacherous bastard is useful for getting Mance to think he’s switched sides.

Largely I think it comes down to a difference in their comfort with deception: Tyrion is very good at lying (especially in ACOK when he’s in a constant game of cat and mouse with Cersei), where Jon as the son of a Stark believes in personal responsibility in a way that has him chafe any time he has to.

Lannister studied his face. “Yes,” he said. “I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers.”

“Half brothers,” Jon corrected. He was pleased by the dwarf’s comment, but he tried not to let it show.

From a prose perspective, Martin bluntly stating that Jon “was pleased by the dwarf’s comment” is interesting because it should be an example of bad writing: it’s telling, not showing, right? But bluntly stating character’s reactions and emotions is something Martin actually does a lot. I think he gets away with it for two primary reasons. The first is that his prose can be so laconic and sparse at times that it just feel natural to state things straightforwardly. And the second is that Martin can pull out more complex descriptions for emotions when he needs to, which helps the reader’s imagination fill in the blanks when he doesn’t.

(Doing this may also just be a leftover of having written scripts for most of his life. In a script it’s fine to just state what emotion the character has because it’ll be filtered and communicated through the actor and dialogue. And Martin does write really naturalistic dialogue.)

“Let me give you some counsel, bastard,” Lannister said. “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”

Jon was in no mood for anyone’s counsel. “What do you know about being a bastard?”

“All dwarfs are bastards in their father’s eyes.”

“You are your mother’s trueborn son of Lannister.”

“Am I?” the dwarf replied, sardonic. “Do tell my lord father. My mother died birthing me, and he’s never been sure.”

“I don’t even know who my mother was,” Jon said.

“Some woman, no doubt. Most of them are.” He favored Jon with a rueful grin. “Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs.”

This is a key, key scene and concept for Jon’s entire series arc; that the best way to deal with prejudice is to face it head on and reappropriate it. That ethos will form the care of his Lord Snow persona thought it’ll take him a few chapters at Castle Black to really internalize the lesson and start making use of it.

This conversation with Tyrion is also the first of the many peeling aways of Jon’s blinkers when it comes to his privileges. It’s the starting point of his ability to empathize with other marginal groups: first Tyrion, then the Castle Black recruits, then the wildlings. That ability to grow and learn (despite the constant mantra of knowing nothing) and empathize with others is what separates Jon from just any other run of the mill peasant boy to high king fantasy protagonist.

And with that he turned and sauntered back into the feast, whistling a tune. When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.

And with that this insanely long chapter comes to an end. Next up will by Arya I, in which we finally get to properly meet Sansa. Until then below are the metas I linked to (and a few more) to keep you occupied.

Also check out my meta tag, or my fanfic. And feel free to ask me a question about this chapter or anything else here on tumblr. I love interacting with my ASOIAF fam.

Linked Metas:

--The practicality of Jon’s relationships

--How Jon joining the Night’s Watch is a story of the adults in his life failing him

--How Ned failed to prepare his kids (especially Jon) for their adult lives

--Why Ned didn’t foster Jon at another northern house

--What Ned should have told Jon about his parentage

< Previous Chapter (Bran I) | Next Chapter (Arya I) >

Photo Credit: Kali Ciesemier

#reread #jon snow #tyrion lannister #jonsa #agot #a game of thrones #got #game of thrones #asoiaf meta #asoiaf #meta

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thecloserkin · 5 years

Text

fic rec: Dante’s Stars by Pretani

fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events

pairing: Violet Baudelaire/Klaus Baudelaire

word count: 94k, complete

Is it canon: Yes

Is it explicit: Yes

Is it endgame: Yes

Is it shippable: I’m fucking crying it’s so beautiful

Bottom line: The one and only Violet/Klaus epic, read it and bawl your eyes out (def read the warnings first tho)

It’s a canon-divergence AU where the Baudelaires stage their own deaths to escape Count Olaf. In canon the three Baudelaire orphans—inventor Violet, bookworm Klaus, and baby Sunny—are hounded from guardian to guardian by cartoonish villain Olaf, who will stop at nothing to get his hands on their fortune. Olaf murders or incapacitates every single adult who spares two seconds of sympathy for these kids, leaving a wide swathe of destruction in his wake. In this fic the Baudelaires have decided to wipe the slate clean and assume new identities.

I have mentioned in the past how salty I am about the Baudelaires’ characters being sidelined for Snicket the narrator, Olaf the villain, and/or sundry other bit-players (in the Netflix show the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender p much steals every scene they’re in). In canon we’re not really privy to the kids’ inner lives. This fic avoids that pitfall by sticking with tightly focused third-person Violet and Klaus POVs.

The thing this fic does really well is instill a pervasive sense of dread/paranoia which is remarkable because for the first 25% absolutely nothing ominous happens. The orphans get taken in by a slightly addled, very nice old lady and they just … live in her house. For free. While she cooks for them. And every morning Violet and Klaus hook up in her barn.

Ok back up so the ship they’re passengers on goes down in a storm, all hands lost, the Baudelaires are presumed drowned with the rest. Which is positively providential. The first event of any import to occur is that Klaus swipes some cash from a dead man’s wallet. Violet has ethical qualms but Klaus quashes them by pointing out that Sunny’s starving:

”I’d do anything for her,” he said. “Even become a thief or a murderer.”

Then his dark eyes found Violet’s. “I’d do it for you, too.”

So on the one hand I think this is rather extra. I mean, what possible use could a dead man have had for that money? Money that could put actual food in Sunny’s stomach. The Baudelaires are keenly aware that justice does not equal unquestioning obedience to authority and I think their exposure to a raft of tyrannical and unjust authority figures has hammered that home. They’re down with bending the rules because they know the rules are never even-handedly applied anyway (ie. the show trial at Hotel Denouement, the farcical final exam at Prufrock Academy). On the other hand I remember how uneasy they felt about stealing Hal’s keys in Hostile Hospital, and that was barely a misdemeanor! A friend of mine astutely pointed out how Violet is always trying to behave in any given situation the way their parents would have wished, whereas Klaus takes a pragmatic approach: do whatever keeps his sisters safe. And that is a very interesting contrast and one I want to see explored further.

They get on a train. Things that happen: Klaus notices when Violet is down in the dumps or angry or upset or in this case, wistfully jealous of other people who lead “normal” lives, bustling all around them. He’s not in love with her yet but noticing is the first step. Violet atm is super focused on being the elder sister, the adult in the room, the One In Charge. They get off the train and as soon as they blow into town Violet gets catcalled and propositioned. One of the themes of this fic is the horrendous baseline level of violence against women, some of it normalized and casual like the catcalling. The Big Bad Villain of the piece is literally a guy who’s murdered multiple girlfriends on account of them fridging his ass, since he appears to think that women owe him sex. And this man’s driving ambition is to add Violet to his list of conquests.

So often, men treated her as little more than an object … Klaus was different. He saw her, the woman she was inside.

HOW COULD SHE NOT FALL FOR HIM?? Is there another man she could learn to trust enough to fall in love with? However I’m getting ahead of the story. Klaus is still in the phase where he’s awakening to his attraction to Violet:

She was mother and sister, soft skin and tender strength, and he hid his face in her neck. Like a child, she rocked him gently, cradling his head.

I have to protect her, even if it’s from myself.

He couldn’t take this, his brave, beautiful sister, so near … the knowledge of what those men wanted to do to her. I”ll kill them … And what he wanted …

God but it kills me, Klaus thinking that his attraction to Violet is as noxious as those vile men and their rapacious stares. Klaus himself otoh is president of the Violet Baudelaire Fan Club. The contrast could not be more marked. Look at him building her up when she’s about ready to to give up on picking a lock because she’s lost her hair ribbon:

”I’m done, Klaus. I don’t have anything else to give”. ”Vi … “ he was pleading, willing her to believe in herself again, because he did. “You’re a brilliant inventor,” he told her. “It’s who you are. Nothing can take that away. You don’t need your ribbon.”

The unwarranted parallel that he draws between himself and a bunch of sexual predators is the source of so much angst and pining:

Is that what I am? A pervert?

She’ll blame herself for this

Well, well, well, if it isn’t ye olde I’m-Leaving-Her-For-Her-Own-Good-Lest-My-Perverted-Attraction-To-Her-Despoil-Her-Innocence. I am absolute trash for it every time, film at 11.

”I love you, Vi … I’m in love with you.” He said it like he was confessing to a crime, and she wanted to scream, to laugh and cry all at once.

THEIR LOVE IS A CRIME!!! Could these babies be more pure??

They’d always had an extraordinary connection. It was the reason for their seamless partnership, their ability to support one another … But now, the bond that had kept them alive was killing him. How could anything ever be right again?

”Vi, I’m sorry … I want to be your brother, but I can’t … I want to be more than that … I don’t know what to do.” ”Kiss me,” she said, “and be both.”

THATS IT THATS A WRAP I CAN NOW DIE HAPPY. That “kiss me and be both” is PERFECTION.

And she knew she’d never willingly give herself to anyone but him.

she’d loved him even then. Who could tell when they had crossed the line? It was already too late.

cross the line what line??? they were made for each other.

”You know, we missed the sunrise,” he said, nose to nose with his sister.

Violet and Klaus carve an extra hour out of their morning to go make out in the barn. I shit you not these kids spend a whole month without progressing past first base because Klaus doesn’t want to “pressure” Violet into anything she’s not ready for. Violet, for her part, is beginning to suspect there’s something wrong with her person; why hasn’t he even tried to take her top off? Thank you #Patriarchy for teaching us that desirability is the measure of a woman’s worth. God they are so thirsty. This bitch almost fell over the first time he touched her tits:

“Vi,” he spoke into her hair, voice breaking. “Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me to —“ But she only titled her head, to meet his mouth in a feverish kiss.

So Klaus and Sunny are having a snow fight and Violet tugs her glove off to tousle his hair and it’s THE SEXIEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN BYE. True story after I read this fic I legitimately thought that “Vi” was a pet name Klaus called her by in canon, and when I finally finished the books much much later and realized that it wasn’t—well, it should have been.

There is a fairy tale about a princess who disguises herself in the skin of a donkey to escape the attentions of her lecherous father the king. Violet and Sunny discuss it. Violet points out that rape is wrong because rape is rape, because it is coercive, not because it’s incest. I love it when fic highlights the fairytale parallels to the Baudelaires’ situation, and I feel like Donkeyskin was such a spot-on choice because it’s all about surviving sexual assault and learning to make oneself vulnerable again afterwards? Klaus is the prince who sees through her disguise and falls head over heels in love with her CHANGE MY MIND. On the subject of happily ever after:

”Is that what you think I want? A fairytale? A walk down the aisle in a white dress?" He felt a lump forming in his throat. "Most girls think about those things, don't they?" "I don't," she told him. "I prefer not to. And as for children…well…I love them. That's why I don't want any of my own … how selfish would I be, to bring another little life into this? Another hostage they could use against us. Imagine how awful it would be if…" She shook her head. "No children… not ever. I couldn't protect them." And she turned to him with a soft look. "It's no sacrifice, Klaus. Not for me. I've already been through a… a wedding, you know." He felt her shudder, and she averted her eyes. "I won't be sorry if I never see another wedding dress again."

My dudes, when you have children each and every one of them is a hostage to fortune because of course they are. Also, Violet’s traumatized by the whole idea of being a bride, after going through the wringer of her fake wedding to Olaf. Olaf put Sunny in a cage to compel her compliance, and that’s what the Big Bad in this fic does too. He says things like “You’re a sick little bitch, aren’t you? Spreading your legs for your own brother” which turns their beautiful relationship into this ugly depraved thing to be ashamed of. I mean, this guy was literally a voyeur who would watch them from his hidey-hole while they were being intimate?? My god I would feel so unclean. And the worst part is, he overheard them calling each other by their real names not their aliases, so now he knows who they are and since the Baudelaires are still on the lamb this is bad. It gets pretty dark pretty fast.

“He won't want you anymore! No one's gonna want you when we're done!"

So he kidnaps and rapes Violet. Klaus and Sunny rescue her, dispatch the villain (Klaus’s earlier “I’d do anything” for his sisters, including becoming “a thief or a murderer,” acquires sudden resonance), and that’s when fucking Count Olaf shows up!!!! These kids just cannot catch a break. Turns out the Big Bad was actually working for Count Olaf all along. Olaf’s plan is still the same plan from The Bad Beginning where he plotted to steal the Baudelaire fortune by marrying Violet. Since Count Olaf has never in his life paid a henchman a salary, he was keeping the Big Bad sweet by promising to let him ravish Violet first. Let the full enormity of that sink in. Oh wait a minute Olaf isalso bent on knocking Violet up asap so the union can’t be dissolved on non-consummation grounds, or somesuch:

"You look at me as if I were a usurper, boy, about to steal something of yours. Tell me…" He gestured at Violet. "Is she yours?"

Why would you do this to me??????? This is so, so painful. Olaf uses an electric cattle prod on Klaus and makes Violet watch??? It’s ok though the Baudelaires prevail in the end, and emerge from the bloodstained ordeal as the family they are. My kink will forever be Violet and Klaus praising each other’s bravery and resourcefulness. They! Are! So! Proud! and! Supportive! Of! Each! Other! This line from earlier in the fic gets me every time:

I’ve failed them. This was his greatest fear, worse than death or any torment fate could devise. In his head, he imagined the struggle, saw his girls beaten and shot, felt each blow and bullet as if his own body were the target instead.

Klaus Baudelaire laying down his own body between the world and his sisters is really the only thing I care about:

And then her gaze fell to the marred canvas of his body.

I bet his back is a mess of burn marks ugh. Four weeks after Violet’s discharged from the hospital (practical Violet made sure to get the green light from the medical professionals) they finally have sex again, which is a relief—after the rape they were both hesitant to initiate sex because she thought she was damaged goods and he thought she wanted space? Silly kids. Oh and and here they are being mistaken by strangers for a pair of lovebirds:

One of the women sighed dreamily. "Did you ever see a more likely pair of turtledoves?" "Of course not," Mr. Poe sputtered, dabbing his brow with a handkerchief. "The very idea!" And he excused himself hurriedly, to make some phone calls. "Don't be silly," said the other. "They're siblings. Haven't you heard? … They're the Baudelaire orphans." "Well, I daresay," the first one went on, "anyone would've taken them for sweethearts."

I CANNOT WITH THESE TWO

The Baudelaires finally, finally come into their fortune free and clear. They put on their parents’ wedding rings and move to Canada. A cat (!!!) leaves baby Beatrice II in a basket outside their front door, and that completes their family. Nobody deserves good things more than these kids, and this fic ends exactly where it ought, describing “a rural life of moral simplicity.”

I read this fic years ago and it was w i l d rereading it again, thanks for coming along for the ride. If anyone wants to scream/cry about this fic in particular, or Violet and Klaus in general, feel free to send me an ask or message me ANYTIME

#fic rec #asoue #violet x klaus #Baudelairecest

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