Of Course The Brothers Gain In Pride As The Prequel Storyline Progress. That We Know. The Tension And

Of course the brothers gain in pride as the prequel storyline progress. That we know. The tension and stakes build to new heights. But you know what else also reaches new heights? The School Masters’ tower itself, an office Rafal had built likely for the express purpose of shutting out irksome interruptions from the inferiors down below, the very symbol of his pride, of his literally elevating himself above all the rest.

I don't exactly remember how I reacted, but I remember feeling euphoric about the Rafal prequel, even though I don't think I screamed, or did I? I've forgotten by now. But anyway, it was surreal because I literally never in a million years would've imagined he would be a protagonist! Like, how could a book about him be profitable? (At the time, a decent amount of the fandom seemed to hate him for all of his crimes in the main series.) I must've gasped really loudly (I do that sometimes)—loudly enough that my mother thought something was wrong from another room.

(And then, I had suddenly acquired a new fear, heretofore unknown: what if the new book "mischaracterized" Rafal? I pre-ordered the book, but I put off reading it for months, which probably sounds ridiculous, but no, Rise was overall spectacular in the end. It was only the quasi-Goodness in Fall that irked me a bit because Rafal's actions were inconsistent and often not truly Good, especially when we look at the motives backing them. I was absolutely relieved that he was still greatly flawed and acting like his old self, what some people might call "problematic"/controversial, by the end of Fall. A squeaky-clean record was the last thing I wanted from him. He doesn't deserve a clean slate! For instance, it was a bad move on his part, but I actually liked what went down with the demimagus, Midas, and Rufius.)

Yes! I thought Hook would have a larger role in Fall, for all he did for the plot before. So, I was actually surprised by how he was sidelined.

Is that Theory the "Hook is Aric's father" one?

Poor Japeth... and Kei, now that I think about it. What's the evidence? Something in F+B?

I feel like the Kei/"traitor" thing happened in ACOT, but I'm not sure. Maybe it happened sometime after the "The Garden of Truth and Lies" chapter, iirc, in which Sophie and Rhian stroll the Camelot grounds. (I'm still sort of planning on doing a TCY re-read, but I'm thinking of starting my fic first, and then doing a re-read as a refresher/fact-check, so I can fix things, if I notice anything, about, say, the Bank of Putsi, maybe Kei, the Tournament of Kings, the crystal ball, and the Japethery I've probably forgotten about. Although I've read QFG multiple times and ACOT twice, I've only read OTK once, so it's the one I'm the most foggy on.)

I am really curious to see your take on Aric and Japeth's relationship. I mean, the beloved author and creator of the series have addressed this issue with 'in their own sick wicked way they had loved' so yeah it's cannon cool. But I feel like the further implications of this? We saw evil 'unable to love'/ 'only ever have true love'. From what I remember Japeth mentioned Aric more than once, how they would write letters to each other how Aric 'begged' for Japeth to come to him but Japeth never did so and then bro spent the last of his life trying to bring Aric back to life. There are so many implications, the dynamics, the context, everything, but I love how you theorise and explore all sorts of ideas so I can't help but wonder how you view all of this :D.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a great day/afternoon/evening/night!

Sorry to disappoint, but I should probably start off with the fact that I don't ship Japeth and Aric. While I like Japeth, partly in thanks to @discjude winning me over, and further recognizing the tragedy surrounding him, his relationship to Aric never canonically does him any favors. And, with Aric, I think I'm apathetic enough towards him that I don't actively hate him; I just don't care about him. In truth, if not for Aladdin's pitiful existence actively hammering on my nerves, Aric would probably be my least favorite character.

The first thing I want to address is that Evil being "unable to love" or "only Evers have True Love" is actually false, despite the many times the series puts forth this claim. Yes, we are explicitly told this "fact" in book 1, but the book's point was to subvert/deconstruct the myth.

First, by the end, with her self-sacrifice, Sophie proved Evil's capacity to love, meaning: Evil being unable to love is just a commonly-held belief in the Woods, not the absolute, be-all, end-all truth.

(And the belief could've been perpetuated by "Rafal's"/Rafal's way of running his institution that literally shapes the Wood's perceptions and the future. Alongside this claim about love, consider the existence of the Doom Room, created to punish a singular mutinous class of first-years, based on a now-revised philosophy about Nevers' learning from harsh treatment and (probably) disproportionate retribution that an excessively stubborn dead man already too entrenched in his old ways never had the chance to change because he died—and this is all aside from the fact proven by the display at the very first Circus of Talents, that Rafal's students did indeed learn better when he finally listened to them and mentored them as an equal in their position (as Fala). In addition, the statement: "Nevers learn from deprivation" similarly reveals how the Woods really do generalize about Nevers—until Sophie, the "exception" and iconoclast, comes along.)

Second, Sophie's non-romantic True Love at some point was said to be Agatha, and I think this established fact is consistently maintained throughout the series, even if other elements overshadow it, so not only Evers can have True Love.

My take on Japeth and Aric is that Japeth's love for Aric, however twisted or sincere it was, drove him to become the Snake, follow along with Rhian's Camelot ambitions and initial staging-terrorism-and-hostage-scenarios plot, and commit all his other, duplicitous, villainous acts throughout TCY, later by his own will, which is a motive I find fascinating (and contradictory about the nature of the Woods' Good and Evil souls, whenever Japeth is set next to the rather grey Rhian).

So, while Japeth's devotion to Aric could be viewed as romantic, it's just not appealing to me, personally, due to the relationship's ambiguous one-sidedness in particular. And, I think I once may've read something about Japeth as a Never fighting for True Love (or his perception of "True Love") and Rhian as an Ever fighting for power (the Nevers' ideal fairy-tale ending) being ironic or inverted in some way. That's also some world-building fodder to consider, or even just another point that could overturn the Rules as we know them, yet again. I'm not surprised by that subversion honestly. Japeth is very much like his parents. Nearly every SGE villain Soman has ever written has been motivated by the pursuit of love, or by the overwhelming force of their own (often obsessive) infatuations (with the exception of somewhat flatter, less-developed, secondary villains, like Aric, Vulcan, Marialena, and Peter Pan).

Also, thanks for the compliment!

Does this one even need a caption? That’s one sexy sign!

Prequel fandom, it's imperative that you listen to this song I discovered today—I beg you. You will not regret it.

The lyrics, for reference:

You've got a long way down, a long way down, a long way down with our hearts so proud Apple and the baron got it old and spoiled All that's good for man is the soil

Got a neck so strong for the crown upon your head Don't think anyone will leave it when you're dead There's a throng of men mightier than you And they're waiting and they're watching till they fill your shoes

You build your tower up so high Walk over brothers to get by You lost your joy and don't know why Why

Of course the brothers gain in pride as the prequel storyline progress. That we know. The tension and stakes build to new heights. But you know what else also reaches new heights? The School Masters’ tower itself, an office Rafal had built likely for the express purpose of shutting out irksome interruptions from the inferiors down below, the very symbol of his pride, of his literally elevating himself above all the rest.

Weird Things I've Referenced for TOTSMOV41

Warning: blood and abrasion versus laceration visuals.

And Lichtenberg figures (the fic doesn't actually have these in it—I just happened to come across this for reference for other semi-related imagery. If anything, it'd be magical currents, not electrical ones. So, not to worry! No one gets electrocuted in bathwater!):

just making you Aware,,, I think the most recent ask you answered is being held back from appearing in tags cause it's got the "death" tag on it, which redirected me to tumblr's mental health bot when I clicked on it (and its weird that its gone now cause I Swear I saw that post earlier)

I've removed the "death" tag, and it seems like the post's visibility is fixed. Thank you for letting me know!