#And I can relate to some extent to Hana and her upbringing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lizzybeth1986 · 7 years

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Note: Since this post is about group scenes, and Book 2 is still ongoing, I will be updating this essay as and when a group scene appears in the book. As with Book 1, I will be concentrating mainly on the portions that include Liam.

ETA: COMPLETED

Bathhouse/Spa Scene

Technically the spa is free - the part that costs diamonds is crashing the “boy’s” side and getting to spend time with your LI if you’re going for Drake or Liam. It also gives us some great insights into Maxwell’s past, by revealing his hippo tattoo.

Like Liam, Maxwell appears to have been very close to his mother and remembers her fondly for the unconditional support he recieved from her (calling him her “little hippo”, telling him that hippos were strong and tough). Both Liam and Maxwell have similar backgrounds - privileged upbringings that nevertheless had its negative effects, lost their mothers at a young age, and as adults they cling to those memories in varying ways.

The scene then diversifies into time spent with Drake/Liam, depending on who the reader ships. The encounter with Liam can go two ways - one is the romance option: a massage followed by some stolen kisses (the MC still manages to kiss him if she so chooses a few minutes later, even if she doesn’t choose the massage), and the other, more neutral option: asking Liam about the “raising a barn tradition”. I’d like the elaborate on the latter, because I believe it raises some very interesting points.

Today I’d like to talk about Liam not in respect to his relationship with the MC, but instead to his relationship with the reader. Whether one chooses him as an LI or not, he is our main link to this fictional kingdom. He is the reason our character gets the opportunity to travel to Cordonia in the first place. Book 1 is about his social season. Throughout the series, we see Cordonia through the eyes of someone who is completely new to the place (the MC), and in that position Liam (as Cordonia's future/current king) is our main source of information to truly building a worldview of this place.

Now, all the prominent characters in their own capacities help the MC understand the country. Hana, Maxwell and Bertrand help us understand the rules, norms and conditions of high society within the kingdom (for instance, making us understand how important apples are to the economy), Drake gives us a unique perspective of the royal court through Savannah’s experience, Olivia in her one diamond scene gives us an insight into Cordonian history that will prove to be important later.

But Liam, in his capacity as Prince and then King, gives us an insight into the heart of the country, its culture, why it is the way it is, why things happen a particular way here.

At the Masquerade, he elaborates on the importance of the social season, warns us about the fierce competition, and reveals how dangerous instability within the royal family can be.

At the Regatta, he recounts the history of the boat race, and talks about Cordonia’s ties with its neighbours. Sharing this historical tidbit saves the MC a lot of embarrassment while dealing with the press.

At the Forgotten Falls, Liam narrates a love legend. This may not have much to do with Cordonian politics or the court, but love legends are part of a country’s cultural fabric.

At the ruins, he talks about history and how his father views his place in it, and wonders what mark he will leave on his kingdom.

Here, after building the barn, he briefly touches on Cordonia’s agrarian roots, but more importantly, helps us understand that the start to a new couple’s life is a community effort in Cordonia - that not only are the couple or their families part of raising the barn, but also their friends, neighbours and peers. Whether this applies to all, or even some, aspects of Cordonian society, is something we may only learn over the course of book 2.

Liam, in telling us these stories that don’t seem to important in that moment, allows us to chart Cordonian history and culture, and gives us an insight into the way the country works. He is our source of information for many of its cultural anomalies, and gently guides the MC - who cannot always relate to their way of life - into knowing how to tackle things and what to say.

In a sense, Liam is our Encyclopedia Cordonia 😂

The MC’s Journey

I’m just going to leave this bit of dialogue here:

MC: When you put it that way, I'm not sure if it's an amazing advanture or something I'd barely survive.

Liam: Most great things in life are a little bit of both, if only metaphorically.

If this isn’t a summary of what the MC’s entire story in The Royal Romance is, I don’t know what is.

Fondue Party Scene

This scene takes place in Italy, during Madeleine's bachelorette party celebrations and after she has thoroughly humiliated Hana. The purpose of this scene, therefore, is to cheer Hana up and make her feel less of a failure than she already does.

As with the Truth or Dare sequence in Book 1, Liam doesn't feature in this sequence, possibly for two reasons: a. Possibly kingly/political duties, and b. He also happens to be the fiance of the bride whose bachelorette party it is, making it even more unlikely that he will be close by, unlike Drake and Maxwell.

However, he does feature in a childhood story Drake tells us, of the two playing hide and seek in the palace as kids. This story highlights Drake's competitive nature (not coming out of the laundry chute for hours because he didn't want to lose) and Liam's tendency to panic/worry when he cannot find people close to him.

This is possibly a trait that has followed him to adulthood, if his appointing of Drake as the MC's bodyguard is any indication.

Camping Scene

The camping scene takes place as a breather for the group, coming right after a charged sequence where the MC gets to ask Queen Mother Regina about her involvement in the plot and learns about her filial relationship with Adeleide. The MC needs time to come to terms with these revelations and arm herself for the next confrontation, and the rest of the group need to be away from court drama. It is Drake, the camping veteran, who suggests exploring a campsite.

Liam is more relaxed and himself in this sequence, watching his friends tend to a stray lizard and offering help to set up the tents. While helping the MC with hers (if she so chooses to let him), he talks of going camping with Drake often enough that he would have to know how to build a tent and fend for himself if he had to survive. Later, he tells her about getting lost while camping, and being found by Drake afterwards. This sequence helps us understand two things about Liam:

1. The Liam - Drake dynamic. Liam jokingly tells us, early on in the book, that Drake "never lets me get away with anything", and that that is his favourite thing about him. Liam sees Drake as someone who keeps him grounded, and as a person who has had his back when he has needed it, such as the boat rescue and the lost-at-camp story. Later in New York, Drake buys Liam a compass as a wedding gift, hoping that if Liam is to ever feel like he will lose his way, the compass will remind him of who he is, and what he hopes to achieve.

2. It also gives us a glimpse into how truly lonely Liam can be sometimes, and why he holds his friendships so close to his heart. Liam is the only one in the group known to be so intensely involved in court, and he can find no genuine friends there. Maxwell is involved only to a certain extent as is Hana, and we aren't completely sure yet how involved Drake is, even though he may be more involved than he lets on.

Liam cannot trust easily. He has learned long ago that there aren't a lot of people he can genuinely rely on. So he holds on to the few friends he has like a drowning man to a raft. He needs this group as much as they need him, because he knows these people care for him as a person and worry about his well-being.

Shanghai Panda Reserve

The group scene at the panda reserve begins with a scenario where only Liam is allowed inside the enclosure, given his privilege as King of Cordonia. If the MC and her friends convince Xinghai to let them join him, this scene is unlocked.

This scene does not have any specific signifcance like the Night Market scene later on in the chapter, but is more of a fun activity involving cute animals.

Liam, particularly in this sequence, shows his characteristic ability to communicate well with animals: introducing the group to Yue Yue and Yang Yang, happily carrying them around, predicting correctly that hunger may causing their change in mood. Liam's ability to connect with animals is a recurring theme in the books: he is shown speaking affectionately to the horses in the stable just prior to the Fox Hunt in Book 1, cares for the MC's horse (if she buys it) while she is gone, has an instant connection with the corgi when they meet in Paris - to the point where he is able to train him for the proposal in New York and is adored by the pandas in the short time that he is there.

Coney Island

The trip to Coney Island takes place shortly after the MC's name has been cleared, and is planned as a way for the group to celebrate the MC's victory over the scandal that nearly ruined any chances of her staying in Cordonia. This - along with the Beer Garden sequence - are meant to lull the characters into a feeling of false security, a feeling that everything has been worked out and they don't need to worry anymore. But even in this relaxed atmosphere, there are signs that things will soon take a turn for the worse.

The most prominent part of this sequence is the scene in the fortune telling booth, where each of our main characters get varied fortunes. The most confusing so far is Liam's, which is the only one written in the form of a verse. We will explore what this fortune could possibly mean in a separate essay.

Liam confesses to wanting to go to the circus/carnival from time to time, but tells the MC later at the Ferris Wheel that he had "only hoped to see the circus, not join it. My youthful rebellion had its limits". Why is this particular statement interesting? Because his older brother Leo, in RoE Book 3, relates to us a story of how he desired to be part of the circus as a young boy, and how Liam wanted to be his assistant. Yet here, Liam tells us that he was more comfortable with enjoying parts of it rather than actually joining it. In a lot of ways, one can see the circus as representative of the world outside Cordonia: while Leo feels trapped in his role as Crown Prince and desires freedom from it, for Liam it is a part of who he is. The outside world represents everything Leo could possibly want from his life. Liam, however, is happier with having freedom in small doses - his joy lies in simple moments where he can shed his role for a while, but not completely because in being King, being protector and guardian of his country, lies the core of his identity. It may not have been a role he may have always wanted, but one cannot deny that it's who Liam is. So while Liam may enjoy thr circus/outside world from a distance, he may never truly be a part of it.

Other moments involving Liam include him joining the others in a high-striker competition (and reaching only the halfway mark), a cute childhood story about how he used to give titles to all his soft toys (when one has the power to grant titles, why let it go to waste?), and an offer to buy cotton candy for everyone. I see the last as his way of caring for the group: he tends to match Hana when it comes to looking after them, individually and together (an example of this would be him ensuring that Drake is well-taken-care-of when he goes to play pool in Paris, and his offer to help build tents).

Beer Garden

The Beer Garden sequence is seen as the last chance the group will have to interact together before the Finale, and is seen as a breather they take before the Homecoming Ball the next day. Almost half the court makes an appearence here, including former ladies-in-waiting Kiara and Penelope, and noblemen Neville and Rashad.

Much of the scene is provided to the player for free, even allowing us time to have a chat with Bertrand about what happened in Paris. The sequence is extended if the rest of the group manage to convince a reluctant Liam to stay back and enjoy the festivities, and involves plenty of drinking and dancing on a table.

In this sequence, we see Liam preferring to be a distant observer who isn't very keen on dancing alone. He tells us that he is not altogether comfortable doing so, which comes as a surprise (considering the MC remarked that he was an excellent dancer during their first waltz together).

This is similar to how he acted at Drake's birthday party at the American bar in Applewood: he has to be pushed to "show a move" during the celebrations, and seems more comfortable doing a slow romantic dance with the MC. Here, too, he needs the MC's encouragement to climb on the table and dance along.

This reminds me of a dialogue said by Madeleine during her bachelorette, when the court ladies explain to her that this is their first time at a club. We don't all have the luxury of engaging in such gauche behaviour. Liam would have been brought up in a similar manner, perhaps with even more stringent restrictions. It would not be altogether surprising if his inability to dance outside of choreographed waltzes requiring partners has more to do with not having enough opportunities to let loose very often.

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