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a brave new world; or, why i don’t want the barns to be ronan’s endgame

let me preface this by saying that i absolutely loved the raven king. i stayed up two nights in a row to finish it and haven’t stopped freaking out since. like any other book/media/you name it, it’s not perfect, but overall, i think it was the book we wanted and the book we needed (or at least, it was for me). it was just so much more and so much better than i expected, especially with regard to the relationship between adam and ronan.

however, there is one thing in particular about the book’s implied endgame - or what a large part of fandom perceives as the endgame anyway – that really rubs me the wrong way. i’ve tried to rationalize it, but honestly i’ve accepted that i’m just not fine with it on a personal level, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon, so here’s my two cents: i am really, really not okay with the implication that ronan is going to live at the barns forever, and adam is going to move in with him right after college.

while trk doesn’t really give us any definite answers regarding the future of these characters (which is the way i like it, honestly; more freedom for us to imagine), it feels like we’re supposed to think the ideal ending for ronan is staying at the barns permanently, and most of fandom has latched on to that implication. i’m not here for that– and this is why.

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god can you imagine being niall's lawyer

niall: i want to leave a few million dollars to each of my sons and the rest to maintaining my house and wife

lawyer: weird way to say that but all right

niall: she's going to go into a coma when i die, you know

lawyer:

niall: also i want my middle son to have the house, but if he ever goes inside it, bankrupt the little shit

lawyer:

niall, brandishing a scrap of paper: also here's this sentence in a nonsense language. work that in somewhere

one of the most unrealistic things in trc imo is that there’s no hint of irish Lynch relatives descending on Henrietta en masse for Niall or Aurora’s funerals. like we as a people are obbsessed with funerals - everyone’s parents keep a constant eye on rip.ie, a site that’s a frequent cultural reference in irish memes, and we tend to go to wakes and funerals even if we don’t know the person all that well or haven’t seen them in years or they’re related or close to someone we know, even if we don’t know them personally. You don’t have to be invited personally to attend, we put out a notice and whoever wants to can come basically, and indeed if you don’t show face it can be considered rude or uncaring, unless the notice says house private, in which case it’s a more private ceremony. But even then any extended family typically goes along. Like did Declan discourage them from coming in a misguided attempt to give Ronan time to process after Niall’s death? That’s literally the only thing that makes sense to me and I can see that causing a lot of familial tension tbh. And also that may work once but I don’t see them not coming over when they lose a second parent so soon afterwards.

(only love can) set you free

I wish I had the brain for in-depth meta rn but instead here I am, with a fluffy hc with side of angst

Ronan spends a large portion of their aimless drive playing some of his darker more inaccessible tracks. The angry repetition of Alessandro Adriani’s The Man With The Deadly Dreams and Shed’s I Come By Night both cut a sharper edge after a shambolic night’s sleep. Adam woke up next to him covered in blood and feathers and fear for Ronan, not of Ronan, which Ronan still can’t understand. The last straw is Orphx’s Aurora, which causes Ronan to drive a little faster these days. He becomes a storm cloud gaining momentum, eating up the landscape in his path.

Adam can take no more.

He goes for goading. Goading works for them. He aims for a rise, for a distraction.

“God, Lynch, are you aware that major chords are still a thing?”

Ronan just keeps driving. Adam doesn’t relent. “Is Murder Squash the only goddamn song that makes you smile? Actually, no. That’s a miracle in and of itself, I don’t think music could possibly bring me joy again after this, this is fucking traumatic.”

Ronan’s hands tighten on the wheel for a moment, and Adam worries he’s misjudged, that his tone didn’t hit right. He questions whether he only knows how to be sharp with the people he cares about, whether he doesn’t know how to care the right way at all.

But then Ronan let’s out a quiet breath, a huff too small to be considered anything approaching a laugh - but maybe -

Ronan looks to his phone, tapping through Spotify before returning to the task of driving. A song starts to fade in. And Adam can’t help a howl of laughter when it registers for him, feeling a dusty pink flush across his face as Ronan watches him and quirks his mouth into a smile for the first time all day.

Adam feels his heart clench as the speakers blast:

“When I wake each morning As the storm beats down on me And I know we belong together Only love can set you free”

He bites his lip and Ronan’s eyes dart for a second to follow the movement.

“Oh look, it seems you’re experiencing joy again Parrish. What a miracle. I guess I’m a fucking saint.”

You’re something alright, Adam thinks, then berates himself for how dumb of a line that is.

“Joy is pretty big.” He prods, like he always does with Ronan. Goading has got him this far, after all. “You surprised me. You don’t know if it’s joy or if I’m laughing because you’re actually a fucking sap.” “Which is it then? Why are you laughing?”

Adam stares at the full blown grin that’s taken up residence on Ronan’s face now. He takes in the tattoo peaking out of his shirt and follows it along to the newfound lightness in his shoulders. It burns him and the song fans the flames.

“Because I feel free.” He says.

From Ronan’s face, he know that’s not all he’s said. Not really. Not with this song playing. Ronan, for all his edges, looks soft at his words, warm like the late evening sun approaching the horizon ahead of them.

Ronan doesn’t know how he looks but he feels, for a moment, speechless.

The look between them is suspended in time. Both delicate and weighty. Adam wants to be careful with it, wants to keep them light together.

“Free of the demonic earache you’ve been subjecting me to this whole time.” He quips.

The moment defuses, but doesn’t dissolve as Ronan laughs. “I told you, I’m a saint, a demon comes for you and I slay its ass. No matter what.”

Ronan’s tone is as light as Adam was hoping for, but his words leave Adam feeling unmade.

And the look on Adam’s face sets Ronan free.

He drops a hand onto Adam’s, lacing their fingers together as the music plays on.

why did my short & fluffy hurt/comfort pynch fic appear in the tags when it was a video post, but not now that i’ve reformatted it as a text post: an essay seeking a conclusion by me

Important question: do you HC Ronan’s family from Northern Ireland or the Republic bc in my experience those are wildly different cultures and it changes everything for me if Ronan’s family is actually from Belfast and not like Claire or something

omg im so sorry this got lost! Glad to have found it though, this is a really interesting question. I mean, both probably? As in, I probably think about him as having family in Belfast but also having cousins etc. in the Republic too. You’re right that Niall growing up in Belfast is definitely a very particular cultural experience which could be read to have significant political and historical implications about his character and his family. For that reason, I do generally maintain that Niall is from Belfast and his parents raised him there. But I also like the opportunity for the family to have connections to the Republic as well.

Due to how small Ireland is, I have 3 great grandparents and a grandfather from Belfast, but I also have roots in Kerry/Galway/Leitrim/etc., although at least ¾ grandparents, if not all, probably ended up spending the majority of their lives in Dublin, as have both of my parents and myself. So it isn’t wild to have a mix of different places in his background. I mean they’re different places, and what perspective you’re given from being Irish Catholic in Belfast vs. Clare is totally different for sure. If you visit Belfast and then visit Clare, you’re also going to find that they’re undoubtedly very different places. But also being from Belfast doesn’t mean you don’t have ties to people or history in Clare, even if your cultural experience of your Irishness is in a completely different context and is thus subject to a very particular political/government landscape. Does that make sense? 

Just looking at the Lynch name, you can find dual origins for it. In old Irish families, in numerous counties throughout the island, it was used as an anglicisation of the Irish name O'Loinsigh. But also the Norman de Lench family, who came over in the 12th century with Strongbow, then gave their name the Hiberno treatment (lol where’s the truth what came first which way is up) and it changed to Lynch, and they were counted as one of the Tribes of Galway by the 15th century. Like to be up front, this is v basic research into the Lynch family name on my part, but just goes to show that there are families in every single county that carry the name, and there are different historical directions you can go with that to incorporate different elements of folklore/mythology/history/etc. into the Lynch family makeup which is a v good time imo.

However, I do think that Niall’s Belfast background is meant to be significant. In what way, I don’t know. It could just be Maggie thinking “Oh I’ll make him have an Irish Catholic origin story in Belfast, probably coinciding with the troubles, to further emphasis his rebellious nature while also allowing me access to that sweet Irish mythology/all those Yeats quotes(?) and Abbey Theatre references(??) that I love” which is quite the tactic and a whole other discussion. But regardless of why she chose Belfast, she did settle on Niall being from Belfast, and you’re right that that is a culturally significant place to grow up, particularly for someone of the age bracket we can only assume via guess work Niall was in. So I think it can be important to maintain that connection and I like that it can be used as a way of demonstrating that history and exploring its potential impact.

Like there are numerous hcs/fics I’ve come across that maintain his/Ronan’s Belfast connection, but don’t seem to get the significance of it at all, which is super jarring. Like you can’t just make them live in the North and treat them as living in some colour-by-numbers/horribly stereotyped version of Ireland™️ - that’s bad enough generally but like the complete lack of understanding of the difference between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland just takes it up a whole other notch. Like there are fics that have a historical setting with Ronan living in Northern Ireland and they Don’t Make A Lick Of Historical Sense without an awareness of the issues. They just don’t. It’s like a whole other level to the au that the au isn’t aware of. 

But that being said, I’m currently in the rough stages of a fic that gives Ronan other branches of the family in other parts of the country too. I mean the cross border family is also an interesting thing from my perspective (although I’m not sure how far I’m going to delve into this yet), and, as mentioned before, I want to use elements of mythology tied to different parts of the country, so I think that can add to the narrative too, while maintaining Niall’s identity.I’m probably brushing over things and over simplifying things but you’re right that there’s a difference in a character being read as being from the North or as being from the Republic. I just want people to keep this in mind generally, as long as people do a bit of research into these things/ask an Irish trc fan such as myself or @arbores–loqui–latine for genuine Irish info from a genuine Irish source, the Lynch family background/cultural positioning can be a super interesting thing, probably regardless of where you trace them as being from, though again they’re two very different things. Apologies for totally spitballing with complex issues surrounding Irish identity and history, this probably isn’t my best work tbh, though very much worthwhile to consider. 

Hello, I'd just like to say I am so glad I stumbled upon your blog and thank you for blessing me with Real Irish facts and hcs on the Lynches. I'm an irish-American with irish grandparents and like some of the stuff you say is just So True. Your post about Irish people and funerals had me shaking my head. Bc I just went to a funeral of my grandma's sister, and barely anyone knew anyone there. I heard my dad say "I think that may be my cousin. He looks like it could be, and I'm gonna find out."

Ahhhhh thank you! So glad you’re enjoying them! That is such a Big Mood for funerals omg - my mum and her brothers are super in contact with all their many first cousins and I even know some of my fourth cousins on that side but it’s so many people? actually there are a few of their first cousins who are MIA due to feuds with their siblings (lol the drama) so there are some mysteries, but that’s still a lot of people. and then you also have all the random people a person has ever breathed the same air as turning up? so it’s like “are we related? I don’t think we’re related. But maybe….” And then my dad is less close with his family but similarly has a lot of cousins who are all for the funerals and all for the month’s minds and all arrive out of the mist to these events whenever they occur. All the men seem to be called Ed/Edwyn/Edward/Eddie/etc. like it’s the literal inspiration for Ed, Edd n Eddy, so by that process of elimination it’s usually easy to work out what full grown men I’m related to but god knows when it comes to everyone else. God, Irish funerals can be surprisingly gas, let me use this as an opportunity to continue my campaign to get some representation in the raven cycle/the dreamer trilogy even as some belated event for niall and aurora - I need Declan, Matthew and Ronan Lynch bewildered on our level by their extended family/their parents Irish acquaintances rn

re: these tags - Ronan is a v common Irish name but the name lore? I have always thought it could be rich for examining Ronan as a dreamer who is the son of a dreamer & a dream.

Here’s a lil copy & paste job from Wikipedia on the name lore in question:

“The name is derived from a very old legend, which tells the story of a mother seal who is warned never to stray too close to the land. When the seal is swept ashore by a huge wave, she becomes trapped in a human form, known as a "Selkie" or "seal maiden". Although she lives as the wife of a fisherman and bears him children, known as "ronans" or "little seals", she never quite loses her "sea-longing". Eventually she finds the "seal-skin" which the fisherman has hidden and slips back into the ocean. However, she can't forget her husband and children and can be seen swimming close to the shore, keeping a watchful and loving eye on the

guys it’s just so I mean swap out selkie with dreaming/aurora and it’s just so

guys why is her name mór no one is called mór it literally means big

i'm conflicted

because on one hand Ronan Lynch clearly benefits from his Rich, White Privilege but on the other hand, a POC Ronan Lynch would probably mean that Aurora Lynch, a beautiful being born from dreams, isn't white either.