The Last Ever After - Tumblr Posts
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.
Rafal attempting to use slang in a Modern AU:
Rafal has joined the chat.
Rafal: I am insane. Unhinged. And mentally-ill. - RM
Agatha: Yes, that's true. What about it?
Rafal: I'm wicked.
Tedros: True again. Why are you stating the obvious?
Rafal: No, you misunderstand. I'm colloquially bragging like the youth do?
Agatha: Wut? Are you trying to say something we disagree on?
Rafal: Yes. I have a good argument too.
Rafal: Wait.
Rafal is typing.
Sophie has joined the chat.
Sophie: Apologies, darlings! I TOLD him not to go through my contacts! I've been trying to teach Rafal to keep up with the times as of late. He means "sick," and "wicked" as in "wicked cool."
Tedros has left the chat.
Agatha: And you thought that would work?!!
Sophie: It was worth a try?
Rafal: How's this, my love? I'm DECEASED at the sight of these previous texts!
Sophie: ???
Rafal: 💀💀💀💀
Sophie: What are you trying to SAY???
Rafal: Isn't it obvious? I'm LAUGHING at the princeling's idiocy.
Agatha: ...mood
Sophie: Oh. Slay.
Rafal: Whom?
Sophie: NO ONE. It means continue doing what you're doing because you're stylish and/or successful.
Sophie: He's right, you know, Aggie.
Agatha: Yeah... can't defend Tedros there.
Rafal: 💀💀💀💀💀💀
Sophie: ...We're never going to get him to give it up, are we?
Agatha: Nope
Rafal: These pictographic symbols are great. 🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛
Agatha: 🙄
Rafal: Look at my flock. Too bad there aren't any Stymph ones. 🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛
Agatha: Ok, this is your problem now. Bye.
Agatha has left the chat.
Tried out another coloring experiment on a sketch, this time with green-eyed Fall Rafal and a TLEA-like palette.
What is your favorite thing about SGE series and why?
I have multiple favorite things, so you can expect me to elaborate for a while.
One of my favorite things from the series is Soman’s novel concept of "psyche travel," and for christening it with an actual name.
I’ve only seen this concept in a few other, more science-fiction or speculative type of stories, like the Divergent series, The Giver quartet, "The Veldt," a fascinating short story by Ray Bradbury (which TOTSMOV41 is very much inspired by) and the Artemis Fowl series, which involves time manipulation that wasn't strictly time travel (which is far more commonly seen in fiction). And I love Soman's more fantastical spin on psyche travel! To me, the concept was previously called "mental landscapes" or simply "simulations" of reality. "Psyche travel" as a term is just far broader and more versatile, and I feel like you could do more with it, experimentally.
In fact, I would've loved it if Soman could've left more room in his tight plots to explore human consciousness and "the cauldron of the unconscious" more in TCY, so I will be doing exactly that with the themes in my longfic TOTSMOV41. If anyone wants to know more about TOTSMOV41, I'll redirect you to this table of contents/introductory post.
My fic's entire premise reflects how much I loved that one scene in ACOT. It was absolutely brilliant, especially with the edited views of what reality once was, how subjective memory could be. Plus, in that moment, ACOT managed to combine a few of my major interests: psychology and how generally error-prone the human mind and memory are, surreal imagery in literature, and delving further into SGE’s soft, irrational/nebulous, thematically-relevant magic system. (The way I see it, problems are more often unintentionally created than intentionally solved with magic, and we understand little of it, what goes on magically, really, and can't logically extrapolate what the characters could possibly do said magic. So, the magic is framed as unstable and flexible, even while it does reflect the state of the world and the important relationships in the tales. Thus, that's how I might classify the SGE system. You're welcome to disagree on which type of magic system it is though!)
The following points are probably more obvious:
First, Soman’s prose and images overall are enthralling, and his use of VERBS, especially, rivals few authors that write for a younger demographic, at least in my opinion. It’s often just so well done. It's the little things, like using "scalded" or "pinked" instead of "blushed" that I love. Soman's use of language is so inventive at times, and I love trying to imitate it. Verbs can make or break a piece of writing in my mind.
Also, I love the extravagance and length and readability of this particular book one sentence that I think is underrated for the sheer exasperation embedded in it:
“After chastising her for slipping in the Ever ranks, explaining every assignment thrice, and berating her to cover her mouth when she coughed, Pollux finally left in a circus of hops and falls.”
It’s fabulously sweeping and exhaustive.
In addition, the third person omniscient pov is less common nowadays, I think. So much of middle grade and YA is in first person these days, so it may be a trend, for its immediacy. Though, I tend to prefer third person, even if my preference also generally depends on how well the work was executed.
I love SGE for its basis in fairy tales since I loved reading the classic Grimms' fairy tales before I discovered SGE—they were probably my favorites for a while (and still sort of are, alongside SGE). And they inhabited my storytelling before I ever discovered more subversive things existed. Thus, it's the overall darkness and the dramatics I find compelling about Soman's work.
The cleverness in the writing, when it’s well-executed, is phenomenal. And this applies to two aspects: first, Rafal, obviously, and second, the plot structure itself.
When I say Rafal, I mean specifically during the moments in which he shows off his conniving craftiness, his prowess at outfoxing others. And I love any instances of scenes in which he tricks or outwits people and systems.
Someday, I’ll have to remember to discuss the Fala-shoe-fairy-kiss scene from Fall, one of my favorites ever, in a future post. Those particular thoughts must be somewhere in my scads of drafts... I’ll have to look for them. For now, I will give you any thoughts I have now:
I'm referring to the scene in which Fala lures a fairy with a golden kiss and traps it in his shoe without a single word of verbal explanation, and he expects everyone to intuitively follow his genius thought process, the solution to their dilemma. Then, everyone, except Aladdin, manages to catch on, when they watch his demonstration.
Here's an (exaggerated?) approximation of how I'd imagine his internal monologue could've gone:
Watch and learn, youths. I’m better than you. In innumerable ways, and this is one. But fear not! I will lead you to success. No one else is capable of doing it. Yes, I will take on this burden myself. Give me all the credit. But don’t even bask in my cleverness, even if it deserves your attention. My actions speak for themselves. Just get the task done. Now. We don’t have all day to dilly-dally like inane cowards.
I will redirect you to this post, if you would like to read more about how I happen to interpret Rafal's "trickery," or rather, absence of trickery, perhaps.
And for my second spiel on the series' cleverness, elaborating on its predictable unpredictability, on a structural level, even if I only saw it in hindsight:
I love any kind of legerdemain or sleights of hand, or twisting of plots, except the devastating Fall one, I suppose. And there is something very characteristic of SGE I've observed: there are often, very, exceedingly late third act turning-points. These points are likely hallmarks of the series, to the extent that I've come to expect them by now, especially after Rise, and sometimes, I'm probably actively on the lookout for them when I read other books. Besides, Soman likes to lull readers into a false sense of security, that much we can probably confirm.
Furthermore, these turning-points seem to take two forms and you can literally only expect one of two things to happen.
It's either: 1) the characters reach a point of what should be a settled peaceable resolution, that is then rapidly negated, or 2) the characters reach a darkest-night-of-the-soul moment, the prospect of temptation in the story, often for an individual, and wishes are granted (often in subversive, unfulfilling ways to almost everyone's dismay).
Examples:
1) In Rise and TLEA: you think you are safe, that you're out of the dark Woods (which often represent the darkness of the soul or the human psyche as a symbol) but you're not. There is no built-in "warmth" to the narration, as Soman puts it in one of his interviews. This all is literally the narrative's "liar's tell" or "slip" in the third act, a revisiting of conflict, the reopening of the tale. You know there is more disaster to come. The ride is not over yet, however much you may think or desire it to be so.
In AWWP, characters say and believe the wrong things, are misled, and narrowly miss a possible "happy" ending because Sophie felt alienated enough to choose Rafal, who chose her.
In TLEA, we think everything is resolved, but all of a sudden, we get one more little impact, a jolt, that not all is well or completely restored, the moment Aric kills Lady Lesso.
In Rise, when Rafal is revived and reclaims the Schools from Vulcan, setting everything back into their original, proper forms, back to order, we think we've averted all crises, and have reverted back to the status quo. But, that resolution, again, is only momentary. Supposedly, Rhian's Evil, his rot, was awakened, and the moment Rafal considers leaving again and does, to seek out a new replacement student, is when the plot begins to race downhill again. When Rafal leaves, he leaves a gap for Rhian's poor judgement to bleed through, and Rhian hires Hook, effectively setting off the second wave of awful plot events in Fall. Rhian sort of resurrected old conflicts, and breathed new life into them.
2) Before the Great War in TLEA and the climax, we get tonal signposting that nearly "all is lost," that we're approaching, marching towards our imminent demise. There's an ever-present fog of "Abandon all hope, ye who enter" because if there's anything Rafal's good at, it's cultivating an air of stifling oppression. Hence, we have the narrow aversion of the darkest moment:
Agatha (unlike prequel Rafal with Evil Rhian) doesn't use the wrong emotional appeal. She gets through to Sophie, she and Tedros aren't executed, and Sophie destroys the ring, killing Rafal. Despite everything that said otherwise, that said Good would lose.
Lastly, a few other bits I appreciate are the roles the Seers play in the series, the meta aspects of the Storian (or Lionsmane) and the tales in general, and the names of a lot of the proper nouns such as the kingdoms—I don't know why I love some of them. The alliteration is oftentimes fun, and the names feel right and plausible.
A sketchy thing that sort of turned into something? It's not exactly a card design, but I could call it that. The shading was more a shot in the dark and the resolution is low because it started as a really tiny drawing without a plan or anything.
Books 1-3, Oversimplified:
Rafal: I knew it. You're Evil!
Sophie: And whose fault is that, darling?
Rafal: ...
⸻
Agatha: I hate you and you're an idiot!
Tedros: Well, I hate you and... wait, hang on, I love you.
Agatha: Great. Now what are we going to do?
Tedros: I—
Agatha: Stop talking. That was a rhetorical question.
Tedros: Wonder what Sophie's up to these days...
If Sophie and Rafal actually had a straightforward conversation during TLEA:
Rafal: But why don’t you want to marry me? Give me three good reasons.
Sophie: Why three? [She makes a mental note to count to three before murdering him.]
Rafal: [gestures vaguely] Rule of Three. Fairy tales. Etcetera. You're a Reader. You should know by now.
Sophie: [witheringly] Well, one: You killed me. Two: I shouldn’t need another reason, but I’ll play along—you’re an axe murderer. There. [She crosses her arms.] Three: The reasons shouldn’t have to be "good," considering that it’s you I’m speaking to. Satisfied?
The accent color on your page is green. So I’m Wondering if that’s a TLEA green or Rafal’s Eyes green?
TLEA green. I believe I must've been thinking about the fairy lights of the cover. Also, I liked the color before I started to associate it with Fall Rafal's eyes—it just happened to be yet another thing that went to him because, er, symbolism purposes? (For instance, with birds, I always loved them when I was younger, my interest waned for some stretch of time, and then, I started to observe them in the context of The Bird Motif, and that jump-started, nay resurrected, some resurgence of my old interest in them again. His fault. No longer surprised. I'm likely becoming predictably transparent, even to other people, if not myself, ofc.)
Disregarding the Fall identity retcon for a moment—I was or likely still am the most cowardly person upon this earth and have never watched horror films, so how did my brain decide that the literal necromancer in SGE would be my favorite character? I mean, the irony?
If Rhian were a villain as his own character, in character, I feel like he'd be the kind of villain to explain his whole Evil plan, giving it away completely instead of keeping it to himself because he's incapable of keeping it to himself. He would be hyped up with excitement for his vision coming to fruition, and most importantly, he would want to do it for the showmanship as he's theatrical like that. Then again, he may be too smart to reveal it all.
If you recall his thematically-appropriate outfit during the Circus of Talents, he seems to love causing a scene, and while Rafal does share this tendency towards the dramatic, I don't believe it's to the same effect or as extreme as Rhian's.
And this brings me to the point that it's just flat-out unusual for Rhian to wear essentially the same outfit for 200 years.
I mean, that seems unlike him and extreme. For evidence, it's implied by TLEA, by the image of his midnight blue robes hanging on a hook in the tower like a relic at the beginning of the book, that he's worn that selfsame outfit all that time. Sure, he must've not had an occasion to dress up for, but when did that ever stop him? Did imitating Rafal mean he had almost given up on his fashion sense? It's not like anyone had seen him. He didn't have anyone to perform in front of after all. Maybe that's the reason: no one would see him, so it wouldn't matter? He'd probably become depressed, and perhaps, the loneliness drove him insane and away from old behaviors.
Yet, how could Rhian, the man who was a fashion icon in his better days, be reduced to wearing the same midnight blue robes for 200 years, as the first trilogy implies? Even villainous Fall Rhian with his pure spun gold cloak did better than this version of him.
Wearing the same clothes like a uniform is Rafal behavior, and while taking that trait completes his disguise, which I'm sure Rhian had down by SGE's present, if no one had the faintest memory of what the real Rafal was like, what was keeping Rhian from caring about his appearance like he once did? He only seemed to fall back into fashion and indulge in it in order to appeal to Sophie and that's it. Did he never regain the right state of mind for fashion to be of any importance by himself? Did Sophie revive that lost part of him?
In conclusion, that is the most implausible thing about the Fall twist: Rhian's lack of fashion sense. /j
TLEA likely could've been darker in at least one way, if it had been more accurate to our real-world science:
If SGE’s magic didn’t work how it did, I bet Sophie’s ears could have popped, and maybe burst her eardrums. Plus, Rafal could have inadvertently killed her (and doomed himself!) once he’d reached some terminal velocity of mortals while flying with her.
Probably, he could stop her from bleeding out though (or would it be internal bleeding?), and the ring would save her, too, I think, as the immortality went "both ways."
Aside from some "recovery" or the potential ring fail-safe, just think of the angst and hurt/comfort potential!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think, jointly, prequel Rafal and main series "Rafal" are the only character who ever manages to rival the sheer volume of outfits Sophie has. Tedros and Agatha don't even come close.
Thus, I wanted to ask:
Okay so I've got this weird question (fun to ponder tho)
How do you think Rafal would react if Sophie slapped him?!
(Both the prequel Rafal and the TLEA Rafal.)
And perhaps the prequel Rhian too. Although I'm mainly curious about Rafal (since he has more of a connection with Sophie, I think.)
Ahaha! This is absolutely a fun one on this very fine day, Anon. Here goes—
Because prequel Rafal most likely wouldn't have a connection to, a care in the world about, or any feelings toward Sophie, she could just be another student to him. And if she slapped him, a blatant show of disrespect to her School Master, I think his first impulse would be to send her to the Doom Room, or to react explosively, retaliating with sorcery. Maybe, he'd slam her to the wall. We've seen that happen with the pirates and he has a short fuse.
If he stopped to think about why she'd slap him, if he were in a more tolerant state of mind, say, as Fala in his disguise, he might be able to reevaluate whatever he said to her to have earned that slap. (Probably, he would have said something about how she's worthless as an unconventional, Everish, and superficial Never, who only cares about appearances, who is a disgrace to her side because she wants to find True Love, and who'd never amount to anything, I'd imagine.)
And, maybe, just maybe, she'd actually break through the ice with the slap, or by following it with some critical yet truthful jab about him, thereby reaching his humanity and inspiring some self-reflection on his part.
Yet, I do not believe Sophie reaching him or succeeding in cuing him into recognizing his flaws would be the most likely outcome. I'm not sure what other fault-finding he'd do with her, and we know he just loves disproportionate retribution, which is why I'm most inclined to say: torture it is.
⸻
TLEA "Rafal" is the more uncertain answer.
He does have feelings for her and has exhibited sadistic and masochistic traits. (Remember the moment when they kissed after Sophie returned? He seemed to actually enjoy his bleeding lip for some reason.)
So, this may seem controversial, but he might redden and could potentially feel aroused and/or disoriented/dazed and be unable to react, frozen in place, considering that she opposed his authority, and that he hasn't been contradicted by anyone in about 200 years.
Besides, regardless of whichever of these would occur, I don't think he'd be able to keep a clear head in this particular instance.
If that aroused thought process happened, I think he would try not to lose his cool or get flustered, and would flee the scene abruptly, leaving Sophie to wonder how he took the slap (and unfortunately, worry for her life and what could possibly be in store for her, if he came back).
I'm not sure if her slapping him (probably due to his daily proposal ritual, him telling her to address him as "Master," or something equally controlling and irritating to her) would change their power dynamic. But that possibility does exist.
If their dynamic changed, maybe he would yield to her more often than he already did in canon, or could involve her in more major wartime decisions because slapping him definitely would've exhibited even more of her force of will and agency to him.
If their dynamic went in the opposite direction, he might become paranoid that she lifted a hand against him at all, and try to monitor her more than he already did, exercising his authority over her more oppressively.
Another fairly realistic option would be their having a verbal argument or a shouting match. But, it could be one-sided, if Rafal just decided to endure some kind of berating from her.
He might just allow her to get away with yelling at him while he either defends himself, calmly, maintaining his composure without yelling. Or, he could take everything in stride, or at least silently, and listen to her, seemingly unperturbed or perhaps, wincing the whole time at her sharp tongue? Internally, he could be very pained by all the horrible, hurtful things she's saying, that he would probably deserve. Another route is that he could, strategically, agree with her and yield to her, to regain her favor, but that could be too transparent of him.
Eventually, Sophie would run out of fuel for her vituperative fire and halt her tirade against him, and she might be a little remorseful or blush, but he'd let it slide because it's her. And he needs her.
He'd probably accept any apology, half-apology, blame-shifting, or non-apology from her, just to stay on her good side. And if he were able to swallow his pride, he could give his own speech as he's wont to do, appear to understand and even empathize with her societally-oppressed, downtrodden Evil soul and heart, and apologize himself, like any good Evil "activist" would.
(Personally, I like to interpret TLEA Rafal as The Ultimate Evil Activist™. So, er, take that however you want.)
I think he'd hold himself back from violence against her if it crossed his mind because he probably has the self-control to know that aggression would only worsen his chances with her, no matter what satisfaction it could bring him in the short term.
Alternatively, he could seize her and initiate a kiss against the wall in the same forceful way Sophie did to him once.
If not that, shock is another option I can go back to. He knew, to an extent, that she viewed him as "all-powerful" even though he wasn't. Maybe, he'd be impressed by how brazen she was to slap him at all. He'd never admit that to her, I think, but he'd probably glow inside about the fact that he's (why not credit himself?!) influenced her enough (ahem, provoked her enough) to become more violent, even if it backfired against him. Plus, he could harness that violence of hers during the upcoming war and redirect, train, refine it, towards a more productive cause. Their victory. Because, that violence is also an indicator that his plan for her to embrace Evil wholeheartedly is succeeding, even if his parallel plan to court her is simultaneously failing. (Picture mental fist-pumping, like: yes, yes, yes, basically.)
So, there's a chance he'd remain expressionless. However, he could display shock on his face if he weren't able to control his emotions, or he could grin like a pathetic, love-sloshed idiot, much to her disdain or ire at not being taken seriously.
Whether or not he'd recognize and agree that he was in the wrong due to whatever he'd done to earn himself the slap, he could also try to make it up to her, whether his apology is sincere or not. I'm sure that in either case, he'd resort to personally bringing her (or materializing from afar) more and more opulent gifts—because, what more does he know about her that he could use to his advantage? Not a lot, to be fair.
Maybe, the gifts would appease her while he temporarily stays out of her sight, so she doesn't get mad at him again?
The least likely scenario, in my opinion, would occur if he truly didn't know whether slapping were a thing that "normal young people" did while "dating," and he took the slap as a sign of things going regularly, if not badly.
To be fair, he's watched Ever courtships for years (and he surely must've observed Agatha punch Tedros in the eye over the Gargoyle debacle), but this is Evil's Love—something unheard of, something never before seen. Should it be held to new standards? If so, what standards? What should he expect? What should he set, if the standards are up to him to determine? Should he really hope to imitate the Evers' love on every front? He's had zero successful past relationships, so how could he know?
If this happened, I bet he'd obsess over the meaning of Sophie's slap.
He might have to process it and puzzle over what exactly went wrong for days before he returned to set things right with Sophie. And if he did that, he'd potentially inadvertently abandon her in the tower for those several days, leaving her to wonder if she's going to starve there as her punishment, or die from "the plague," assuming he forgot about everything else and his obsession took hold of him.
(And leaving her alone could be a strategy itself, whether intentional or not, so she would begin to crave his presence again.)
This would also mean, he'd have deal with far more external complications because the assumption that he'd desert Sophie for a short period, the way he did to Rhian for six months in the prequels, would mean he'd also desert his war-training responsibilities, leaving the Old and New students to fend for themselves, and perhaps, to devolve into anarchy—if he's not quick enough to return, provided that his Deans failed to maintain order and discipline during his absence. In fact, I could see Aric actively undermining Lady Lesso's efforts, and encouraging vicious hallway brawls and overall barbarity with Rafal gone.
Also, his love was never "enough" for his brother in the past—that could easily spiral into self-doubt, even if his ego would protect against it. Then again, he's likely more sensitive to rejection if it's from her specifically since he actually values her opinions of him. I feel like he'd just brood in the no-longer-Blue Forest, sit there and do nothing but cycle that thought around and around, because, his plan, his plan that he's had for 200 years, his last hope, is currently falling through all around him, all due to one slap, and what if that means all hope is lost!? All that work for nothing. A terrifying prospect. What then? He'll have nothing if he doesn't have Sophie by his side.
I think he'd know better than to think that so quickly though. Dramatizing things just entertains me.
⸻
Now for Rhian.
Rise Rhian could easily say something about the inferiority of Evil, and that could've insulted Sophie indirectly because I don't believe he would, while still Good, stoop to insulting her directly.
He'd probably just assign her a benign punishment, like dishwashing duties, or confine her to her dorm, given that she is a student and technically one of his wards, even if she's a Never because in this case, she acted against him, not the Evil School Master. So, perhaps, it wouldn't turn out like it did in book 1 with Lady Lesso. If he had no jurisdiction over the Nevers though, the punishment could be the Doom Room, if the decision fell to Rafal. And Rafal would not give a student preferential treatment if they slapped his brother!
Now, if Rhian were sympathetic enough to Sophie and her ongoing suffering in Rafal's School, he could cover the incident up and spare her. Let's face it: while Good, he seems like the lenient, bleeding-heart sort. Maybe, to him, it'd be the right thing to do because she seems kind of fragile and vulnerable. And she's Everish, which could appeal to him emotionally.
Then again, Rise Rhian has poor judgment, so maybe he'd stall and overthink deciding on any course of action, and wouldn't know what to do with her. He might not even feel like he could bring himself to discipline her, and might just continually obsess over it, as the indecision eats away at him. And, in the moment, maybe, he'd just flush red and tear up a little because she's been so cruel to him!
Fall Rhian, on the other hand, would probably insult her and do it so scathingly well. If she slapped him... she'd probably be a dead girl walking at that point. Could he incinerate her? Very possibly.
Midway through Fall, Rhian might just assign her a demanding punishment or task, really, of the same nature (and severity?) as Midas'.
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And that is all I have for now. If there are any outcomes I haven't thought of, feel free to tell me what you think!
This photo from Pinterest provoked a thought in me:
Light is traditionally characterized as good and celestial while darkness is not. And yet, people find refuge in the darkness, how it can be comforting, as an excess of searing light can be blinding. And that reminded me again of Rafal turning into a shadow and Rhian turning into light towards the beginning of Rise and the subversion, of course. (This is sort of an offshoot from my flame versus non-existent shadow/Pans/eternal youth symbolism post and its companion post.) And of how James reacted to each of the brothers' souls: the reassuring, probably less volatile, unchanging quality to Rafal's and the deep-rooted instability of Rhian's.
The reaching motion in the photo also reminded me of a line from TLEA and how Rhian was foiled in being both extreme, strait-laced Good and extremely and throughly Evil—partly because he expended too much effort every time, and never allowed himself the chance to inhabit a natural state of being.
"The more you chase the light, the more darkness you find."
This also happens to relate to an idea I once heard in a class, that people (in general, not the Woods denizens themselves necessarily) consider Goodness the default state of being because Evil cannot produce any Good of its own, nor can it be anything more than the hollow "ape of Good" (or God, in some contexts). All it can do is imitate Good because it lacks all that Good has (the heavenly virtues? Perchance, think: patience versus restlessness?). And thus, Evil is the perversion of being. It is (was, in Rhian's case, as he had no "healthy" outlets for emotional release or catharsis, unlike Rafal's seemingly instinctual violence) deprived of being and parasitic toward the Good.
Also, have more photos from my Pinterest because why not?
Quintana: You should be locked up! You are a danger to humanity!
Rafal: [seething with rage] That will never happen.
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200 years later:
Rafal: [indignantly to no one in particular] Hmpth, I chose to lock myself up!
Agatha: [through an air vent, rolling her eyes] You must've gone stir-crazy. Even locked up you still endangered us.
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Post-TLEA:
Dean Sophie: Oh, this old thing? Yes, I renovated everything in the tower—couldn't possibly live in a musty, old cell like Rafal did. I have standards.
Inspired by @wisteriaum's "dance with death" piece.
I'd love to hear the explanations or thought processes behind your answers.
And yeah, I guess I'm romanticizing/satirizing all this. What about it? /j
I love this take and the warm/cold juxtaposition. It reminds of some interpretation I once read elsewhere, that when he raised his hand to Sophie at the end of TLEA during his death scene, possibly to kill Sophie out of spite, it could've also been so he wouldn't be alone in death, implying that he wanted to take her down with him, so they'd be united again.
(Also, have you read Fall, or do you just like the old view of canon/continuity better like I oftentimes do?)
Anyway, Sophie and Rafal's TLEA dynamic always reminds me of a very particular genre of painting: "Death and the Maiden." (I have a WIP AU for this concept actually. Even Rhian and other characters have roles too.) Thus, the concept can easily be assigned to their dynamic, considering Rafal's physical coldness in TLEA and elsewhere, and yet, in some cases, Rafal is not in Death's role, like you said, due to his fear, which is interesting in itself, that he can be both.
Inspired by @wisteriaum's "dance with death" piece.
I'd love to hear the explanations or thought processes behind your answers.
And yeah, I guess I'm romanticizing/satirizing all this. What about it? /j
I CAN’T BELIEVE IT.
All this time, I just thought I’d completely made up a false, very subjective “theory” that Sophie’s behavior and appearance shifted to become colder and calcified in TLEA because Rafal had acted out some kind of lie of omission and breathed his soul into her (and I wanted to come up with yet another plausible reason for Sophie to distrust him in TOTSMOV41.) And then, I come across this page, at random, only to see this description of “a strange warmth,” which could just be physiological warmth, some product of strong emotion on Sophie’s part. But it also could be interpreted as the same warmth James Hook felt with Rafal’s soul inside him! (In truth, I doubt that, at the time of publication, this moment was meant to signal this particular interpretation based in the prequels, but I’ll take it because it happens to be convenient for me.)
Also, if I stopped to acknowledge Fall, another question arises: did the quality of Rhian’s soul transform along with his appearance, to more closely resemble Rafal’s soul? Why and how could it be warm and reassuring? Rhian’s soul, while Evil, was unstable in Fall. So, maybe more than his appearance metaphysically shifted over time to match Rafal, making him more than an near-exact replica of his brother visually, down to a soul level, seemingly.
The only inconsistency here that doesn't fit is he kisses her hand. Thus, I doubt any breath actually gets into her lungs.
agatha of woods beyond💓👑👸🏻