I Do Agree That Sel Is Less Of A Trope In Legendborn. Reading Bloodmarked Skewed My View Of A Lot Of

I do agree that Sel is less of a trope in Legendborn. Reading Bloodmarked skewed my view of a lot of things from the first book. Still, I could tell just from one line of dialogue and description of his appearance that he was going to be the broody, toxic love interest. That’s a problem if your characters are that predictable. Another thing, I specifically remember Sel admitting that Bree was obviously a oblivious once-born and he can’t believe he ever thought otherwise once he spent time alone with her in the trial. Part of that is to save his pride, but if he was willing to admit it was foolish to focus so much on Bree as a threat, then I think we can too.

Regardless, I liked Sel’s character more in Legendborn. Bloodmarked is where he really devolves into a trope.

Sel actually does continues to hurt Bree after he acknowledges she’s not a threat. He mesmers her without her consent, which Bree does immediately forgive after he saves her life. But I think that’s just bad writing and not a reflection on her character.

I have no idea where you got the idea that I said Sel was hurtful for the sake of it because I said the exact opposite. The fact that he has reasons for his actions plays into the trope. In fact, it’s thd main qualification. If he was hurtful for the sake of it, that would make him evil. Having reasons is what makes him morally gray. Above anything else, these characters fit into this trope because they are morally gray. It doesn’t matter what the reason is.

I actually think this excuses thing is gross. Once again, these books are meant for teen girls who know very little about relationships but think they are experts. The message Sel’s character and his relationship with Bree is sending is “I know he hurt you, but he had a valid excuse so it’s okay to fall in love with him.” I work with children and teenagers. I can already see them trying to use this book to debate me about relationships. No, I am not making this up. They think they know better than me because of the nonsense they see on Youtube or read in books. Considering who this book is intended for, these types of characters will always be a hard no for me.

I do know Nick isn’t inherently nice. My point was that he is a better love interest because he is nice to Bree. Maybe I didn’t say that in this post because I wrote that right after waking up, but I know I wrote it in my previous Legendborn post.

Also, if you really can’t see that Nick was written off in Bloodmarked then we really have a problem on our hands. Most of the Legendborn characters were written off. But Nick specifically wasn’t even seen in person until after halfway through the book. He was a major character in the first book, then gone for most of the second. That’s being written off. He couldn’t be there because if he was then Bree would be more focused on her relationship with him than hers with Sel. Or if Deonn really leaned into Bree and Sel’s relationship it would look even more like cheating than it already is with Nick around. For them to work, Nick functunally can’t be there and conviently, Nick is not there.

If you don’t see Sel as a trope, then I guess that’s good for you. But I always will because in every book I read I know exactly who these characters are and what they will do just from reading their introduction. To me, that means they’re a trope.

Thanks for giving me something to think about today.

Huh… really interesting to read that you think Sel is more trope than character when it seems like that’s how everyone feels about Nick. I have always felt weird about not really being into Sel. We have seen the brooding, dark haired love interest a million times.

Exactly my thoughts. I never really liked that type of character to begin with. I think people don’t see Sel as a trope because 1. they eat that trope up and 2. they think being morally gray means a character has depth. They do not, in fact, have depth. They are all copy and pastes of each other.

I actually rolled my eyes when Sel was first introduced because these characters are so predictable. They all start off hated by the FMC (yet she always ogles him). They all hurt people, including her. But they all also do some nice things which makes them immediately forgivable in the FMC’s and audience’s eyes. For years I’ve been wondering why these characters are so popular in books made for girls in their formative years. Why are we trying to teach them to love men that hurt them?

About Nick, I think he seems like a trope because Deonn wrote him off in order to give Sel a romance arc. He could have had so much more depth than Sel with the identity crisis thing going on, but then the romance Deonn wanted wouldn’t have worked.

I try to write MMCs more like Nick. I will admit it is challenging to create a character who is both nice and compelling, but there are ways to make it work. And we need to make it work. We need more diverse storytelling than falling back on what everyone else is doing, and we need to move past the internalized misongyny that keeps making its way into books made for girls.

I hope the girlies aren’t too mad about this take.

4 Lines Tag

Thanks for tagging me @wyked-ao3!

My lines:

A line about life

A line about death

A line about storms

A line about nature

Your lines:

A line about food

A line about heartbreak

A line about a secret

A line about laughter

A line about life

“I wanted to know what life was like for so long. I thought it was all beautiful…but it’s so painful too, yes?”

A line about death

“You would have died quickly; I suspect within hours of contracting the plague. You would have been in a lot of pain as your internal organs eroded, and considering where you are now, you were likely alone.” I sighed. “You should be grateful you don’t remember.”

A line about storms

The beginnings of a hurricane brewed in my mind, but I stamped out any thoughts of unsolvable problems and feelings of incompetence before they could spin into a storm. (I couldn't find a storm exactly but this is close enough)

A line about nature

“This garden really embodies this school’s mission. It is quite honorable.” Catalina smiled shyly. “I’m glad you think so too. Many students love the garden, but it disappoints me when some do not see the importance of plant life.”

Gently tagging @willtheweaver @leahnardo-da-veggie @ddgraywrites+ Open tag

🍌~ What are your ocs weapon of choice and why? (if applicable).

I love this question! I have a whole section of my style sheet dedicated to each oc’s weapons of choice.

Daron’s is her spirit dagger. It’s a dagger made spefically for her that can cut between the living world and the Spirit World and draw energy. It’s not intended for fighting, but she’ll use it if she needs to because she always keeps it on her and it’s what she’s most comfortable with.

Cassidy’s weapon is a bow and arrow. She takes archery as one of her classes and excels in it. Because she’s so good at it, she practices even when she’s not in class so she can be useful in a fight without using magic. She made her own bow an arrow that she uses.

Aria has a lot of choices. She physically the strongest and can take pretty much anyone in hand to hand combat if she doesn’t have her weapons on her. She also has a wolf familiar that is ready to chew people up. However, her favorite weapons are her throwing axes. She has three of them and enjoys the sporty aspects of it.

Catalina and Naomi aren’t really fighters, but when it comes to it, Catalina uses her magic to manipulate plants into doing what she wants and Naomi tries to learn swordsmanship.

u know what, even if my writing isnt the BEST, i still made it all on my own. like there was a blank word doc and i filled it up with my own words, my own story. i took what was in my head and i made it a real thing. idk i feel like that alone is something to be proud of.

What’s your opinion on the enemies to lovers/rivals to lovers trope in YA and NA? (Where it’s more equal/tit for tat and not just a girl forgiving an asshole for one sided misdeeds). Inspired by your legendborn/sel responses :)

I’m not the biggest fan of enemies to lovers, but I think that’s more because of how it’s usually written—which is what you said about a girl forgiving an asshole—and and not the actual trope. I love the idea of the emotional growth it takes to learn to be a better person and fall in love with someone you hate, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in full.

What I really don’t like is that the characters are clearly attracted to each other from the start and there’s usually some revelation that the MMC never intended to hurt the FFC. The attraction thing doesn’t even make sense. Maybe it’s because I’m awkward around most people but I would not be fantasizing about someone I think is trying to kill me. I will admit that makes Legendborn more of an actual enemies to lovers than other books with this trope but I still don’t like what Deonn did lol.

I think the problem is that it’s hard to understand and convey the emotional growth enemies to lovers needs, and it’s much easier to make the characters attracted to each other from the start.

So yeah, I like the idea of enemies to lovers, but not the execution.

Huh… really interesting to read that you think Sel is more trope than character when it seems like that’s how everyone feels about Nick. I have always felt weird about not really being into Sel. We have seen the brooding, dark haired love interest a million times.

Exactly my thoughts. I never really liked that type of character to begin with. I think people don’t see Sel as a trope because 1. they eat that trope up and 2. they think being morally gray means a character has depth. They do not, in fact, have depth. They are all copy and pastes of each other.

I actually rolled my eyes when Sel was first introduced because these characters are so predictable. They all start off hated by the FMC (yet she always ogles him). They all hurt people, including her. But they all also do some nice things which makes them immediately forgivable in the FMC’s and audience’s eyes. For years I’ve been wondering why these characters are so popular in books made for girls in their formative years. Why are we trying to teach them to love men that hurt them?

About Nick, I think he seems like a trope because Deonn wrote him off in order to give Sel a romance arc. He could have had so much more depth than Sel with the identity crisis thing going on, but then the romance Deonn wanted wouldn’t have worked.

I try to write MMCs more like Nick. I will admit it is challenging to create a character who is both nice and compelling, but there are ways to make it work. And we need to make it work. We need more diverse storytelling than falling back on what everyone else is doing, and we need to move past the internalized misongyny that keeps making its way into books made for girls.

I hope the girlies aren’t too mad about this take.