#Cyprian

[juvive-1234]

Can we talk about Marcus for a second…

(Kind of self indulgent and probably doesn’t make much sense)

He’s the character that’s constantly brought up, yet we know little to nothing about him. Who he was before getting kidnapped, what his relationship with Cyprian looked like, how he and Justice interacted and so much more.

Sure we have little glimpses of these, such as his journal and little mentions by Cyprian, James and Justice, but we don’t know what he was truly.

I think the cherry on top is truly that we have no idea what he looks like. We have trading cards for a bunch of other characters yet no actual description of Marcus. I don’t remember much of the text describing him.

In every sense, he really is a shadow. Something that always follows you around, but you don’t really know anything about it.

I’m aware that book three will not have any Marcus chapter’s because well, he’s dead, but if there is any information about Marcus you bet I will scream like how I did when I read page 170.

(bonus points if cyprian is like “yk i once saw justice and marcus kiss.”)

#dark rise #dark heir #marcus dark rise #cyprian #justice dark rise #self indulgent #i just wanted to share

[lisawn]

handsome stranger

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ff14 #wol #paladins #ffxiv meme #hi. i'm not dead #still out here still kickin still playing ffxiv #cyprian #friends wols #this guy was literally like. a midlander hyur. and i . #i felt like a princess #wow. #that tfw when the off tank. when the off tank fuckin got you man when they GOT you

[clotpolesonly]

#a small handful of memes i made while reading the book XD #Cyprian #Will Kempen #Kettering #Elizabeth Kent #Mrs Thomas #Dark Heir #Dark Heir spoilers #Dark Rise #spoilers #edits by me

[biboybuckley]

i just finished dark heir and i am indescribably unwell if anyone has read this please tell me you’re also losing your mind and scream with me !!!!!!!!!

#dark heir #dark rise #cs pacat #will kempen #james st clair #violet ballard #cyprian #katherine kent #elizabeth kent #i don’t know what else to tag this im just gonna pray it finds it’s audience

[laur-the-cat-prince]

camping modern AU. if anyone wants to write the fic you get my whole heart 💜

#dark heir #dark rise #james st clair #will kempen #violet ballard #cyprian #camping #camping au #violet is so non-binary #braiding cyprians hair would be a treat #james and will would be so gross cute #cyprian is so baby girl

[incorrect-dark-rise]

James: You have friends and I envy that.

Will: You're welcome to share my friends.

James: looks at Violet and Cyprian

James: I don't want those.

#dark rise #incorrect dark rise #incorrect quotes #will kempen #cs pacat #james st clair #wames #dark heir #james #sarcean #anharion #st kempen #violet ballard #cyprian

[marzipanthots]

Quick sketch!

experimenting with different art styles hahaha, I love Cyprian dynamic with James ICONIC!

#dark rise #dark heir #cyprian #will kempen #james st clair #violet ballard

[tackletofset]

My wishlist for Dark Rise #3

(more to be added/ subject to change)

Anharion POV chapters

James dressing himself in Red

James aragases Will's "magic door"

Will regains Sarcean's memories (and finds out that the Collar doesn't take away James's free will)

Violet betrays Cyprian to serve Will (foreshadowed by Devon in book 1)

Will and James visiting Sarcean and Anharion’s tomb

Flashback on Sarharion pseudo-wedding (ft. the Collar) (just like the cuff exchange in Captive Prince)

The Returners and white death were revealed to be coming from the Lady/ the Sun King, not Sarcean

Cyprian, Visander and Elizabeth GROVEL at Will's feet for forgiveness

Will goes on full Dark King but using his powers to save everyone

Visander and Philip consummating their marriage honeymoon

#i'd add Devon being revealed as the mastermind of all operations #and Sinclair is just his puppet #dark heir #dark rise #will kempen #james st clair #sarcean #anharion #visander #violet ballard #cyprian #cs pacat #dr theory

[tiredsunrisesmeta]

Dead Dove and Dark Heir: An Analysis

TW// incest, age gap relationships

I do think Dark Heir is a bit more subversive than most other YA titles. Obviously, we have the BDSM coded relationship between Will/Sarcean & James/Anharion. But I think it goes further than that because the books don't shy away from more taboo things in the way a lot of recent YA titles tend to. Namely, incest and age gap relations. Furthermore, I think its willingness to engage with these topics with nuance adds to the depth of its chatacters.

For example, Will and Katherine. We need to talk about them, lol. I think whether they're actually blood related or not is ultimately irrelevant because of one detail. Katherine looks a lot like the Lady, and the Lady looks a lot like Will's mother, Eleanor. So, from the very beginning, Will pursues someone who looks like his mother, or the woman who raised him at the very least (albeit abusively). He has ulterior motives for doing so, but there's no doubt he felt an attraction to Katherine, and Katherine definitely felt attraction for him. It's all very Freudian. And I think how Dark Heir handles this complicated blend of romantic attraction & familial connection is what sets it apart from some other YA works. It refuses to draw definitive lines between these two feelings within Will. Will doesn't even feel especially disgusted or anguished by his flirtation of someone who turned out to be his sister. He probably suspected it as he was flirting with her. It's weird, but one can say it's the natural consequence of Will being his own person but also being Sarcean at the same time. Will doesn't feel or react normally to these tangled up feelings because he's not normal.

Now for age gaps. There's a lot of examples, but the main ones are Tom & Devon, James & Simon, Will & Howell, Cyprian & Ettore, Visander & Sarcean. The books frame James and Simon very negatively. It was abuse, period even though Simon was never able to have James become his lover. But the way characters like Jannick and Cyprian, following his father's example, and some other Stewards frame it doesn't acknowledge the abuse & instead blames & shames James for the supposed "relationship." This is horrible in this case, of course, but I think it speaks to a relatively blasé, maybe even period typical view of relationships between teens/young men & older men that goes on to affect & complicate every relationship/interaction listed above, some in ways different than to how it affects James & Simon. But I will come back to James at the end of this, so put a pin in that.

With Tom & Devon, I don't think the book has especially condemned it or portrayed it as inherently abusive. Tom is an adult for one. But Devon is undoubtedly thousands of years older than him. There's an element of Devon not telling Tom everything that I think is hinted at. At the end of Dark Heir, Violet thinks that Tom is strangely ignorant about the bigger picture of what's going on. He only knows what he learned from his Dad & Sinclair. At least Violet thinks so. It makes one wonder why he doesn't seem to know more even though he's dating someone who knows so much more than even Sinclair. Perhaps this is a consequence of the age gap between Tom and Devon. I don't particularly think this must mean Devon is abusive for dating Tom. And he's not, imo, comparable to the Regent from Captive Prince. But I think Devon's walls are up, and it maybe benefits him to keep Tom in the dark about all that Devon knows. This is part of a pattern that these books follow when it comes to most of their age gap relationships. They're not summarily condemned, but rather they're complicated, and their dubious, more negative qualities are subtly hinted at.

Visander and Sarcean is one such complicated age gap relationship. Upon hearing about Will from Elizabeth, Visander thinks, "This time I am the man and you are the youth." Near the end of the book when Visander confronts Will he says, "You're the same age now as I was when you killed my family." So it appears that when Sarcean slept with Visander, Sarcean was an adult, and Visander was a young man of about 17. When Visander is first introduced in the story, Sarcean thinks of him as a "young man" and a "young guard" and a possible "dalliance, to pass the time." This imbalance is only enhanced when Sarcean later thinks of Visander as "a trifling, easy to fool." Visander was a youth in love, and Sarcean was a man looking for easy amusement. Visander later feels betrayed by Sarcean for apparently killing his family. He emphasizes that he had trusted Sarcean. Their age gap adds an uncomfortable layer to Sarcean's treatment of Visander and how it might have contributed to Visander's lasting hatred of him. A hatred that, in turn, has Visander trying to kill Will, or the Dark King as a youth, as Visander sees it. Their age gap has now been reversed, and taking advantage of Will's youth, much like Sarcean took advantage of Visander's youth, he will take this opportunity to kill Will. It's like a cycle. Again, the book does not explicitly go out of its way to condemn Sarcean sleeping with a young Visander. It simply adds complications and nuance to the characters & their relationship that the reader must interpret themselves.

Will and Captain Howell's interactions are similarly ambivalent and complicated. Will knowingly initiates the flirting between them, and he doesn't seem particularly afraid of Captain Howell's advances. But their power dynamic is switched when Will uses his power to control Howell. The scene plays out like a scene of sexual exploration and discovery. Will tells Howell "No, don't fight it, just let me", he says "you're mine already", and when Howell calls him Master will thinks "Yes" as "with a lurch, he was inside Captain Howell." In many ways, it mirrors the scene where James pushes his magic into Will to release Will's magic. The sexual subtext is inescapable. But Will taking control of Howell is framed as feeling empowering to Will. Will effectively flips the power script of a young man and an older man in a sexual encounter, which brings awareness to the fact that the script usually doesn't play out like this. Their interaction is further complicated when James sees Howell and Will and freaks out. I'll come back to this...

The last significant age gap "relationship" is Cyprian with Ettore. This relationship is more subtle with its sexual subtext, but it's there. Ettore teases & pokes at Cyprian. We later learn this is because Ettore is himself a Steward, and he sees himself and his past flaws in Cyprian. But some of Ettore's teasing takes on a sexual nature. First, when his men ask Cyprian for a kiss and Ettore himself says, "Rethinking that kiss?" Then, when Ettore invites Cyprian to watch him have sex with a prostitute, who he has dressed in a Steward's tunic. After, Ettore emerging from the bedroom soon after Cyprian, "ostentatiously tucking in his shirt" makes Cyprian flush because of the implications Ettore undoubtedly wanted to illicit. This teasing and mockery come to head when Ettore asks Cyprian to kneel and beg him for help. Cyprian acquiesces despite the burning humiliation of it. This is when James goes to Cyprian and tells him he didn't like watching Cyprian kneeling for Ettore.

James says it's because he doesn't like being reminded that Stewards can be selfless, but I think it goes deeper than that and connects with James's reaction to Will and Howell. James freaks out when he sees Will and Howell holding on to each other. He asks Will if Howell hurt him. James's fear here can easily be interpreted as a remnant of his experiences with Simon. James has been hurt & taken advantage of (nearly sexually) by an older man. So when he sees Will and Howell, his mind goes to the worst possibility first. Similarly, I would argue that James's discomfort with watching Cyprian kneeling for Ettore is similarly connected to his trauma with Simon & Sinclair. This connection is supported when, later in the book, as Sinclair tries to collar James, Sinclair orders James to kneel.

These are some of the ways Dark Heir uses more subversive and taboo subjects to add depth and subtext to its world and chatacters, without forcing the readers to see these subjects in only one way. The series, much like Pacat's other work, doesn't shy away from so-called Dead Dove subject matter. And I think that's a strength of the series.

#dark rise #dark heir #will kempen #sarcean #cyprian #visander #tom ballard #devon #ettore #james st clair

[sarceansurvivor]

Dark Rise characters as text posts ->

James:

Will:

Violet:

Elizabeth:

Cyprian:

Katherine:

#dark rise #dark heir #will kempen #james st clair #cyprian #booklr #bookish #bookworm #c. s. pacat

[booksimppp]

in honor of my great sorrow and distress, here are some memes i have made for dark rise & dark heir. enjoy.

#dark rise #dark heir #cs pacat #will kempen #james st. clair #cyprian #sarcean #anharion #violet ballard #the collar #katherine kent #elizabeth kent #visander

[juvive-1234]

heres a list of things in dark rise i wish people talked more abt

Carver, Emery and Beatrix aka the noviate trio aka deserved to live

Jannick’s Wife/James’s mom and her personality and relationship with the two of them and how she died

Carver’s shieldmate and how their relationship was even though they only knew each other for two days

The Cyprian and Marcus and James dynamic of being raised by the same man at different times

Tom and Devon

Carver x Emery and the angst potential they serve

what if aus where James grew up in the hall

Jannick and the Elder steward’s friendship

What on earth do the tritens look like

how Will was basically living in what should’ve been Katherine’s story in book one

Cyprian and Jannick’s father son dyanmic

Grace and the Elder steward’s dyanmic

Please im desperate to talk to someone abt any one of these

#dark rise #dark heir #carver #emery #beatrix #jannick #Cyprian #marcus #james st clair #tom ballard #Devon #will kempen #katherine kent #PLEASE I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE ABT THESE

[lisawn]

picked up gunbreaker in the middle of shadowbringers and i believe this is how it went

#ffxiv #thancred waters #urianger augurelt #shadowbringers #gunbreaker #viera wol #cyprian #fanart #warrior of light #i dont know how to tag shit in this fandom 😭 #why does thancred try to adopt everyone more than 3 years younger than him

[clotpolesonly]

.

the goddamn AUDACITY of this repressed awkward-ass motherfucker to spontaneously develop game??? in this of all possible moments??? right as he goes off to DIE??? y'all the noise i made when i read this was inhuman

#Cypriet #Cyprian #Violet Ballard #Dark Heir #Dark Heir spoilers #spoilers #Dark Rise #tags by me

[bellandeano]

they're here to subvert your YA tropes & make me cry

#dark rise #c.s pacat #will kempen #cyprian dark rise #cyprian #its wild that he has no surname. cyprian darkrise #violet #violet dark rise #z draws #sfw #will dark rise #dark heir

[vvienne]

violet/cyprian fucking came for me

#dark rise #dark heir #dark rise series #violet ballard #cyprian #they were so close to making it.