Ooh, I Understand What You Meant Now! And I Agree That The Rafal On Fall's Cover Looks Younger, Possibly

Ooh, I understand what you meant now! And I agree that the Rafal on Fall's cover looks younger, possibly compared to Rise's cover. When you said "man," I had pictured a more visibly adult man since, even if Rafal were 18-19 or in his twenties physically, I would still consider him marginally a teenager, or more precisely, an adolescent (brain-development-wise despite the immortality/actual, old age), yet an adult by modern, legal standards—just, an adult on the younger side of things.

I could see adult "Rafal" in the main series looking more like an adult, like in the illustration above (before aging), but actually, due to book one, I imagined him as a stooped, withered, old man, by that point in canon. Then again, I may not be the best judge, especially considering that he's wearing a mask.

Thanks, haha!

Yes! Exactly! And, I know for a fact, from EverNeverTV, that Soman never even had a name for Rafal until he wrote TLEA, so I'd highly doubt he'd have Rafal's backstory planned at all. And that's also why I see Rise Rafal and TLEA "Rafal" as approximately the same Rafal because, to me, Fall seemed to have course-corrected, in both twins' characterizations, just to make the final twist work.

Unpopular, possibly controversial opinion: "Rafal" in the main series is slightly more alluring to me than Rafal in the prequels. Sure, you could call him creepy, but he had a certain power and mystique about him that was distinct from the original's.

Sadly, I don't feel the same about Rafal in TLEA. He's a lot more brooding and moody compared to his scenes in the other books.

Allow me to remind you how weird and unhinged this man is:

"Ah, but there's only one way in this world to prove who you are." The Storian stopped its busy writing, sensing a pivotal moment. Slowly the School Master turned. For the first time, his blue eyes had a glint of danger. "What's the one thing Evil can never have . . . and the one thing Good can never do without?"

Absolute fucking creeper. You can imagine the sound he makes as he slowly turns around, like a creaking door. Gives me chills. I love him.

Also, he's rather funny:

The Storian plunged to the page: "Stupid girls! They were trapped for eternity!" "I suspected as much," said the School Master.

These two could've been a comedy duo. Too bad the Storian sucks.

Maybe it's also the way I'm writing him in Ever Never After. Kinda makes me wish I didn't have plans for him to revert to his original appearance permanently. I mean, it's a real fix-it fic.

I just...

MMMMMMMMmmmmysterious.

Wizard Guessing Game

Somebody sent Tedros to the insane asylum (not literally) in TOTSMOV41. Guess who.

I'm sure you've all heard of: "Which witch is which?" Well, this is: Which wizard is this? Feel free to write out your reasoning. I'm curious.

Tedros’ head lolled to the side. “'Tis ungodly, my hears. Ears. Myne eyen hear. 's the Evil wizard, foul, foul." He laughed to himself as if he had witnessed a joke no one else was privy to. His head snapped to the other side sharply, his gaze unfocused. "No—foul fowl!” he burbled in a daze, approaching incoherence.

Cool! I've never seen this comprehensive of an interpretation of Rafal's "Fala" guise! And, I love how specific your references to scenes from Rise are! Well done on that count too!

WHAT EVEN IS A BOWL OF BROWN HAIR???

I'm obsessed with Fala, as in the identity "Fala" that the Storian drew up and Rafal ended up going along with. Maybe mostly because I love that particular part of the story and there is no illustration of that part. And my poor unimaginative brain cannot work out what on earth is even "a bowl of brown hair"? 😭 Most of my research just showed a bowl-cut, and the phrase doesn't appear to be something commonly used? So that's what I went along with, that "Fala" has a bowl cut like this.

His description made me think a lot... 😭😭😭

I wonder if anyone's ever done a visualisation for Fala or anything?

Good point about age/maturity! (Though personally, I still see prequel Rafal's illustrations as looking younger than a man, sort of.)

When I read prequel Rafal and TLEA "Rafal" as the same person (before the Fall twist) I would rationalize his more poetic side as being an aspect that emerged because he was either in love or playing at being in love, more something situational rather than an inherent personality trait, as he never felt overt, romantic love in the prequels, meaning, he never had reason to express that side of himself. Yet, thinking about TLEA "Rafal" as Rhian does make that trait more congruent.

I also chalked up TLEA "Rafal"'s composure as being part of his situation rather than his actual self as Rhian, but being Rhian explains it too. The way I saw it was that prequel Rafal is tossed around like a punching bag and has a marked lack of control a lot of the time, as if he has chronic Protagonist Suffering Syndrome. Yet, TLEA "Rafal" has the upper hand practically the whole time, which distinguishes him as less high-strung than prequel Rafal because, in his perspective, he knows he'll win, nearly without a doubt.

I'd never consciously thought of that, but it's mainly true for me too! I mock prequel Rafal more than I ever have TLEA "Rafal."

I wonder how much of TLEA "Rafal" is filtered through Sophie's perspective or the tonal difference in the prequels and main series, and how much of him is simply just Rhian/divergent character development. Though, I'm skeptical as to whether the Fall identity twist had existed as a concept since TLEA's publication date (especially since Rise Rafal overall seems to be cut from the same cloth as TLEA "Rafal." Where else could prequel Rafal's characterization have been drawn from anyway?).

Good for Alma! Tearing down facades left and right.

Unpopular, possibly controversial opinion: "Rafal" in the main series is slightly more alluring to me than Rafal in the prequels. Sure, you could call him creepy, but he had a certain power and mystique about him that was distinct from the original's.

Sadly, I don't feel the same about Rafal in TLEA. He's a lot more brooding and moody compared to his scenes in the other books.

Allow me to remind you how weird and unhinged this man is:

"Ah, but there's only one way in this world to prove who you are." The Storian stopped its busy writing, sensing a pivotal moment. Slowly the School Master turned. For the first time, his blue eyes had a glint of danger. "What's the one thing Evil can never have . . . and the one thing Good can never do without?"

Absolute fucking creeper. You can imagine the sound he makes as he slowly turns around, like a creaking door. Gives me chills. I love him.

Also, he's rather funny:

The Storian plunged to the page: "Stupid girls! They were trapped for eternity!" "I suspected as much," said the School Master.

These two could've been a comedy duo. Too bad the Storian sucks.

Maybe it's also the way I'm writing him in Ever Never After. Kinda makes me wish I didn't have plans for him to revert to his original appearance permanently. I mean, it's a real fix-it fic.

I just...

MMMMMMMMmmmmysterious.

How would Rafal react to Rhian finding his Soulmate ( True Love ) ?

Rafal: [flatly, without much expression or animation] Rhian has a True Love. My Rhian? ...I suppose he's not a complete failure of an Ever after all.

Rafal's internal monologue: WHAT THE HELL. How do I know this isn't another substitute come to replace me? What does this even mean? For us? For the balance? This "True Love" of Rhian's had better state his intentions regarding my brother... or there's always interrogation tactics. Finally, I'll have the chance to put the Doom Room to a good, productive use... [a languorous grin creeps across his face]

@extremereader Reblogs spread the word, but adding tags for everything doesn't actually catalogue the post under those new tags. Only OP could add tags, I think.

Generally, just delete and report, or delete and block messages from unknown numbers.

Sorry if this is a bother to anyone!

WARNING!!!!

People, please be careful. There are also people tracking children and people and putting bids on them based on their profile pictures on whatsapp, tracking and kidnapping them. Especially young children, so please be cautious, especially parents who have their children as their profile pictures.

Please pass this on to everyone so that they are aware of the danger. I don’t how it is all around the world but I know it can’t just be here so please please spread the word. Thank you.