Icon by Tomostars. Header by LadyTakhissis. Eh Canadian. Bisexual. Wanderer of many, many fandoms. Library searcher extraordinaire. Student of steampunk. Proud plushie collector. Procurer of Puns. Admiral of a ship armada. Uni student. Pinkaholic. Fangirl. Magical Girl advocate.
Even though the audience did figure out Cardan’s riddle, what hurts is a motive behind why Cardan exiled Jude.
He was fucking trying to impress her.
Like dude. My man. There are so many OTHER ways you could have impressed her.
“When I came here, pretending to be Taryn, you said you’d sent me messages,” I say. “You seemed surprised I hadn’t gotten any. What was in them?”
Cardan turns to me, hands clasped behind his back. “Pleading, mostly. Beseeching you to come back. Several indiscreet promises.” He’s wearing that mocking smile, the one he says comes from nervousness.
I close my eyes against frustration great enough to make me scream. “Stop playing games,” I say. “You sent me into exile.”
“Yes,” he says. “That. I can’t stop thinking about what you said to me, before Madoc took you. About it being a trick. You meant marrying you, making you queen, sending you to the mortal world, all of it, didn’t you?”
I fold my arms across my chest protectively. “Of course it was a trick. Wasn’t that what you said in return?”
“But that’s what you do,” Cardan says. “You trick people. Nicasia, Madoc, Balekin, Orlagh. Me. I thought you’d admire me a little for it, that I could trick you. I thought you’d be angry, of course, but not quite like this.”
I stare at him, openmouthed. “What?”
“Let me remind you that I didn’t know you’d murdered my brother, the ambassador to the Undersea, until that very morning,” he says. “My plans were made in haste. And perhaps I was a little annoyed. I thought it would pacify Queen Orlagh, at least until all promises were finalized in the treaty. By the time you guessed the answer, the negotiations would be over. Think of it: I exile Jude Duarte to the mortal world. Until and unless she is pardoned by the crown.” He pauses. “Pardoned by the crown. Meaning by the King of Faerie. Or its queen. You could have returned anytime you wanted.”
Oh.
Oh.
Like I get it. You wanted to impress her with something you picked up from her on being sneaky and thought she would love it.
It’s like Cardan is this dopey doggo who went to fetch someone’s bumper instead of the stick that was thrown but drags it all the way back to their owner, almost sideswiping them with said bumper, drops it on their foot but looks insanely proud of it when all is said and done.
It doesn’t change the fact that a) someone is missing a bumper and b) Jude’s foot would be swollen.
Every time I reread this passage I’m either a little sad, in love, or completely frustrated. It’s a mix of wholesome, two idiots in love, and did not think this through that I can’t even.
as in you’ll never achieve the perfect daily routine, sleep schedule, coping mechanisms, mannerisms, fashion sense etc. even after years and years of healing and improvement and self-discovery. you will never be so good at life that you manage to utilize every waking moment. its great to be productive and all but sometimes you’ll suck ass. sometimes you’ll take eight hours to be done with a twenty minute job. you’ll prioritize the wrong thing. you’ll sleep for 12 hrs just to avoid being awake. you’ll relapse. and you’ll relapse again. you’ll forget to turn in the assignment. you’ll order too little food. life is far too large and complex for you to even experience it completely, much less try to make sense of and control it. you can’t. please give up on that and be at peace with the hours you lose. they are not separate from your life.
Literally my favourite thing about Rogue One is that it makes the opening of New Hope so funny. Like, Vader has followed Leia from a planet he just blew up seconds ago and pursued her across the galaxy and then she’s just like: ‘I’m on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan’
Vader: You’re a rebel. I just had a fight with your entire rebel fleet and followed you here. Straight from the rebels. Of which you are a part
Leia: *dramatic gasp* rebel? Me??? I was just passing through. Diplomatically. Thought it was a five-space-ship pile-up or something going on there…
death star plans? on my alderaanian diplomatic mission? it’s more likely than you think
ok but this is like legitimate Canon Improvement because I’d always wondered why Vader was so wildly furious at the start of the movie like “rahhhhh bring me the passengers I WANT THEM ALIVE!!!!” and now I’m like
ohh yeah okay they literally JUST blew up Vader’s base, stole his sh!t, and took off while giving him the finger from the window
while giving him the finger from the window
IT GOT BETTER
It is the best thing ever because it establishes that he knows she’s a Rebel and she knows he knows she’s a Rebel and he knows she knows he knows she’s a Rebel and—here’s the kicker—every moment she stalls him is another moment Artoo has to get the plans off the ship and head for Kenobi, and so she’s standing there all “Rebellion? What Rebellion? Me? *kicks dead Stormtrooper underneath carpet* I don’t know about any plans, have you checked behind the sofa?” and making Darth Vader’s blood pressure rise, and, oh, the best part of it is that she’s his daughter so guess where she got that sass from, like every fucking dead blue Force Ghost Jedi who got killed at the birth of the Empire is whooping and cheering from the Blue Force Ghost Afterlife seeing Anakin Skywalker get inflicted with everything they had to deal with from him.
You just know that enough people’s dying thoughts were, “I hope you have one just like you,” for the force to go, “this bitch deserves twins.”
btw being excessively nonconfrontational is NOT a positive trait. it does not mean u are “too nice” or just too kind to hurt people, it means u have a problem communicating and you need to work on it.
There are people in the notes saying that the alternative reason is that they’re doing it because of trauma and i gotta say that
1) same. I did have this same problem and reason for doing it.
2) this is not actually an alternate reason. You guys also have a problem communicating and while you can trace exactly WHY you have trouble communicating that doesn’t mean it’s okay to treat everyone like they’re potentially your former abuser and that you DO still need to work on this.
‘This behavior comes from trauma’ and ‘This behavior is harmful to you, to others and to your relationships with others’ are two truths that can co-exist, and that do co-exist quite frequently.
I mean I know a certain level of projection on fictional characters and situations is inevitable and even healthy, but sometimes you got to step back into the real world to remind yourself that Character X is not your shitty parent/abusive ex/asshole boss/bully from high school, and that people who like Character X are not personally victimizing you.
