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droptheguillotineplease · 3 months

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If We Were Villains sketch page

#myart #drawings #sketchbook #if we were villains #m. l. rio #iwwv #james farrow #oliver marks #meredith dardenne #alexander vass #wren stirling

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shakesqueers13 · 5 months

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The biggest clue M. L. Rio gives us to what actually happened at the end of 'If We Were Villains' isn't Pericles, allow me to elaborate:

Spoilers for 'If We Were Villains' by M.L. Rio below, obviously.

So, everyone talks about the Pericles symbolism and that being proof that James is alive, but I think there's stronger proof elsewhere. In the epilogue, when Oliver is told that James is dead, Filippa is said to have "a copy of Winter’s Tale open in her lap" (351).

If you haven't read The Winter's Tale, that's okay, it is a strange play. (Despite it being, in my opinion, Shakespeare's most explicitly sapphic play!!). But anyway, a key aspect of the plot is that a character everyone thinks is dead comes back to life at the end. I'll explain further:

So, in act three, scene two, a character named Hermione is said to have died after being accused of a crime she didn't commit. The audience sees her pass out, and she's carried offstage where it is said she died.

Hermione was accused of adultery and treason, and the person she was accused of cheating with, Polixenes, escapes before he can be killed for this crime with an advisor named CAMILLO — aka the same name as the gang's fight coordinator who knew James well / became Fillippa's fiancé.

Now, in the very last scene of the play, all the remaining characters gather back together including Camillo, as well as Leontes, the man who caused Hermione to "die," and who was consumed by grief and regret for the actions he took that lead to her death. Miraculously, during this scene, a friend of Hermione's named Paulina reveals that through Leontes's remorse and the resolution of this whole plot, Hermione is miraculously able to come back to life. It's unclear if this is through magic or if Hermione was just hiding out with Paulina all this time and now is able to return to her husband (booooo). She falls into Leontes's arms and everyone is happy again. This is a super weird plot point and doesn't make a lot of sense, but it does speak to the possibility of James being alive!

Interestingly, from that scene, there's also this line: "Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him / Dear life redeems you." - Winter's Tale, V.iii.1280129. To me, this line can easily be applied to James's guilt and reason for theoretically committing suicide. Is James able to find redemption through dying and then coming back to life?

I think the name Camillo is the strongest connection here - there's no way it's accidental. Additionally, this might be a reach, but Winter's Tale is only mentioned one other time in the book, on page 94 when present day-Fillipa mentions, "Frederick wants to branch out and try Winter’s Tale, but Gwendolyn’s insisting on Othello.” The comparison of these two plays seems deliberate - they aren't in the same genre, so they're an odd two plays to be choosing between for the fourth years. However, there is a KEY comparison between the two: they both involve husbands becoming convinced that their wives are being unfaithful, and they both involve said husbands killing their wives—the only difference is that in The Winter's Tale, Hermione comes back to life. Desdemona doesn't. Is M. L. Rio making a sneaky reference to the two possible interpretations of her ending here? Sort of presenting the reader with a choice of what interpretation they chose to believe?

I think it's so cool!!!

#if we were villains #m l rio #james farrow #oliver marks #shakespeare #william shakespeare #dark academia #academia #iwwv #meredith dardenne #alexander vass #if we were villains spoilers

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ecoamerica · 15 days

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

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gooseie · 10 months

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#if we were villains #iwwv #m l rio #meredith dardenne #oliver marks #james farrow #IWWV Memes #iwwv spoilers

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stillabookworm-ifonlyinspirit · 1 year

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If We Were Villains

Foreshadowing, or something akin to that

#et tu brute #oh how it was so obvious and still gripping #not for the of the murder but for the players and their movements and their hearts #if we were villains #iwwv #oliver marks #james farrow #richard stirling #meredith dardenne #alexander vass #philippa kosta #wren stirling #ml rio #iwwv spoilers #if we were villains spoilers

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redgitanako · 7 months

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Tryna figure out their faces through the book has been quite difficult haha

The book is M. L. Rio's If we were villains

#bookblr #artists on tumblr #dark academia #if we were villains #m l rio #oliver marks #james farrow #meredith dardenne #filippa kosta #wren stirling #alexander vass

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arinewneanias03 · 1 year

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TSH: how to get away with murder

iwwv: how to don't get to get away with murder

#bunny corcoran #henry winter #richard papen #charles macaulay #francis abernathy #the secret history #camilla macaulay #dark acamedia #dark acadamia aesthetic #iwwv #if we were villains #meredith dardenne #james farrow #alexander vass #wren stirling #filippa kosta

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rulesofdisorder · 2 years

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you can never trust a man because Oliver Marks said “I don’t know it’s like I look at you and suddenly all the sonnets make sense” to Meredith and then almost immediately after took the fall for a crime he didn’t commit and went to prison for 10 years because he was in love with James.

#like sir that was so sweet and THEN!!!#i would have been so confused if i was meredith😭😭 like bitch you say that to me and then CHOOSE SOMEONE ELSE😭😭😭😭#i would never recover #all men do is lie #oliver marks #meredith dardenne #james farrow #iwwv #if we were villains #jamesoliver #do they have a ship name?#oliverjames #oliver/james #oliver/meredith #mine

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ziegenkind094 · 2 years

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go read if we were villains and then pls come back and talk to me about it :)

#if we were villains #iwwv #oliver marks #james farrow #meredith dardenne #alexander vass #filippa kosta #wren stirling #richard stirling #this book has me in an iron grip #it's been weeks and i still have the iwwv brain worms <3 #ziegenkind art #iwwv art

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utterlyconfusedacademia · 2 years

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When M. L. Rio said “What is more important, that Caesar is assassinated or that he is assassinated by his intimate friends?” friendships were broken.

#if we were villains #m l rio #oliver marks #james farrow #alexander vass #filippa kosta #richard stirling #meredith dardenne #wren stirling #dark academia #dark acadamia aesthetic #quotes #gay books

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snowcoming · 5 months

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do you ever just think about oliver and james and Richard and alexander and filippa and wren and meredith having the best third year filled with laughter and comedy and the complete contrast it had with fourth year because I do

and i become very sad

#oliver marks #if we were villains #iwwv #iwwv spoilers #meredith dardenne #wren stirling #filippa kosta #richard stirling #alexander vass

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pessimistic-gh0st · 4 months

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I'm in mourning. (I finished rereading If We Were Villains again and I don't know how to recover)

#i don't think I ever will #i want this book inscribed on my soul #it's funny because it's true #if we were villains #pessimistic-gh0st #pip kosta #filipa kosta #james farrow #oliver marks #alexander vass #wren stirling #meredith dardenne #gh0st.txt

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halleyys-comet · 1 year

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I saw a video of someone who had just read iwwv, saying they were surprised about the “gay” in the ending and that it was unnecessary.

…have we been reading the same book? That boy spent the first half of the story describing how pretty and talented his roommate was and you really thought there was nothing suspicious? I mean of course it was gonna be addressed, their dynamic is one of the things that carry the plot!

Idk maybe straight people are just oblivious but I was like 20 pages in when I went “oh yeah those two. Those two are gay.”

#if we were villains #james farrow #oliver marks #alexander vass #filippa kosta #wren stirling #meredith dardenne #oliver x james #gay people #lgbtq #books #reading #dark academia #the secret history #m.l. rio

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trannibalcorpse · 1 year

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alexander and filippa definitely gossip about the others, especially james and oliver, when they go out to smoke and i will die on that hill

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g4rdensofb4bylon · 5 months

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m l rio really said "you can justify anything if you do it poetically enough" and thought it justified making me lose my mind over a bunch of emo theatre kids huh

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angelisalynn · 5 months

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“were you in love with him?”

“yes.”

i’m in love with him still.

#my roman empire #if we were villains #iwwv #oliver marks #james farrow #meredith dardenne #dark academia #bookblr

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bvrtysbvtches · 1 year

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no bc the bi panic oliver must’ve been feeling when he saw both his crushes hate making out with each other

#i know mans had like four consecutive heart attacks #oliver marks #james farrow #oliverjames #james x oliver #meredith dardenne #alexander vass #filippa kosta #richard stirling #wren stirling #if we were villains #iwwv #lgbtq #mlm

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