spoiler tags:

#sanderson secret projects / #ssp (& #secret project 1 etc. for the individual novels)

#kowt and #kowt spoilers for Stormlight 5

#tlm spoilers

nightwashh :

as i reread trc, i found myself fixated on the unspoken role of the passenger seat. so here r my thoughts :-)

it is no secret that the cars are critical characters to the raven cycle series, going as far as to have personalities, like the unreliability of gansey's pig or the speed of ronan's bmw. however, the seating chart inside the car is just as important.

in the series, the passenger seat consistently serves as a symbol of equality between the driver and the passenger, an even balance, unbreakable trust. the driver does not have power over the passenger, they are equally powerful instead, level.

the pinnacle of this is in the pig where gansey (almost) always drives and ronan (almost) always rides shotgun. blue goes as far as to call gansey's passenger seat ronan's "usual passenger seat throne" in the raven king, pulling in imagery of two kings sitting together, backs to the rest of the car, inseparable and reliant on each other. this is what it means to be in the passenger seat, just as powerful as the king (aka driver). gansey's passenger seat in particular is a coveted place, primarily saved for his eldest friend, secret holder, and fiercest protector.

adam also rides shotgun in the pig, but not frequently. in the raven boys, these position shifts from adam's usual back seat to front seat particularly come after adam vocalizing his loss of independence and his need to have control. when adam sits here, he feels almost as is he is trapped by gansey's car or as if he is conceding to gansey's power. what he doesn't see (idk, is that a Magician joke?) is that he is gansey's equal and always has been. moreso that is how gansey views him; he is inviting him to join him on the throne. adam begrudgingly sliding into the passenger seat confirms this. his balance to gansey, the equity in their friendship is there, even if adam didn't feel it yet.

a note also, that while she is literally hardly ever in the passenger seat until the later books, blue's entrance into the passenger seat of the pig is shrouded in secrecy, mirroring her experience in her group of friends.

where things change is ronan's bmw. throughout the series ronan's bmw is notably absent of passengers (except noah.) his miles are lonely and his time on the road is often spent street racing or dreaming. the car is painfully all his. while he is an equal in gansey's car, gansey does not receive the same role in return in ronan's bmw. in fact, he's hardly even invited to ride in it, kept out even. however, another character is literally introduced to the series as ronan's passenger: adam.

through the books, adam is ronan's most frequent passenger from scrying in the car in the raven king to stepping out of it while on the phone with declan in order to assist a stranded gansey in the raven boys. like ronan and gansey, ronan and adam balance each other and perceive each other as equals from the start. while both characters may not see this yet, it begins to build their dynamic as an unbreakable team, instantly connecting them and brings their trust in one another to the forefront.

noting here on the topic of a lynch brother, ronan is always in the passenger seat of declan's volvo. he and declan complement each other despite their differences and bring necessary balance to each other. the respect and love was always present by the seating arrangement alone.

also noting that kavinsky, while he does spend a lot of time in and around cars, is never ronan's passenger. ronan is his, briefly, but ronan rejects him, quickly. an important detail to show their sameness but also show ronan's strength, his greywaren-ness, over kavinsky. he will never ride shotgun with kavinsky again because he is not kavinsky's equal -- he is something greater.

the hondayota follows a similar lonesome-ness to ronan's bmw as adam hardly lets anyone rides in it and if someone enters, its probably ronan breaking in. however, there is a critical scene in blue lily, lily blue when adam invites blue to help him scry. her acceptance of his invitation and her sitting in his passenger seat is further symbolic of their mended relationship. they trust each other. they help each other. they balance each other.

the stranded gansey comment earlier reminds me: with the symbolism of the passenger seat also comes to symbolism of the lone driver -- an immediate imbalance, danger even. this is probs best exemplified in blue lily, lily blue, when blue's arduous trip to jesse's cave results in a frantic search for her. this immediately names what is so off putting of them driving alone, it is careless and dangerous. (seen also in: everything that ronan has done ever while driving, gansey taking the pig alone to follow the birds in the raven king.)

in the series there is one notable betrayal of the dynamic: noah czerny. who was murdered by his own passenger. whelk who was was once the other half to his duo, betrayed the passenger seat throne. the cost? a life.

tl;dr the occupant of the passenger seat in a raven boy car (or lack there of) is a crucial detail to follow through their journey together. more than words can say, accepting the passenger throne is symbolic of trust and balance. equality between the driver and the passenger, confirmation of a duo that with mutual respect for one another and a dedication to helping each other.

granny-griffin :

When I was reading Hero of Ages I was also looking at mistborn fanart and I kept seeing drawings of Vin and Elend in a field of flowers. I saw it so many times that I knew it had to be based off of an actual scene in the book. So when I continued reading and the world seemed to be ending I kept reminding myself that at the end somehow the planet would be restored and Vin and Elend would go sit on the lawn and have a picnic and everything would be okay.

tamquamalteradam :

adam unknowable parrish? i think ronan knows you pretty well

squash1 :

ok but pynch is a one-sided enemies to lovers arc. adam Hated ronan. like fully hated him. he literally says that the most unfortunate part of being friends with gansey is having to be around ronan. adam is internally ranting about how much ronan sucks. meanwhile ronan prays to god the first time he sees adam. ronan has been smitten ever since he *saw* adam for the first time. pynch is the funniest, greatest, most mind-crushing ship i swear.

magebirdi :

*slides maggie stiefvater five dollars underneath the table to get a noah reference in greywaren*

mushimallo :

Some designs of Design from Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. Plus Hoid of course. 

captainjonnitkessler :

Love that absolutely no one has really pressed Percy on why he occasionally puts on a creepy mask, emits black smoke, and pronounced doom in a demonic voice before murdering his enemies. Every single one of them’s like “huh that’s pretty fucked up. Anyway,”

astudyinchocolate :

it took me watching C1 to realize, but this scene in the TLOVM opening with Percy and a jail and manacles is the jail cell the group found him in, pre-stream!

When I was watching the show, I’d just assumed it was supposed to reflect the torture from the Briarwoods. But this makes a lot of sense, especially since the opening seems to show all of the characters before they’re together in Vox Machina.

isdalinarhot :

I like that everyone on Roshar is stupid tall because I want nothing more than to be held by someone significantly larger than me and other stuff that involves being smaller than someone else (like wearing someone’s too-big sweatshirt or whatever) but unfortunately I am 5 foot 10 (average height compared to cis men, SUPER TALL compared to cis women) and a men’s xl so usually I’m the one doing the holding and the lending of sweatshirts and stuff. but my fictional boyfriend Dalinar is like 6 foot 9 and I am so small in his arms

onlycosmere :

In the Arcanum Unbounded, it says that a Rosharan foot is longer than cosmere standard. How does that compare to an Earth foot?

Brandon Sanderson: Longer. Kaladin is almost seven feet tall, by our measurements.

We've got a height comparison, Shallan is about six feet tall.

She thinks she's short. Compared to us, she'd be on the taller end. That's why if you notice people from around the cosmere that show up, they're often mentioned as short. Not Hoid, who's able to use magical means to change how he's perceived, but someone like Felt, and stuff like that.

nightcatssketchbook :

Some Percy De Rolo sketches… origins edition!

Was listening to Teenagers and Weep… “weep my mother, weep my father, and weep the children” seemed fitting

if-one-of-us-falls :

I've connected the dots (you didn't connect shit) I've connected them

if-one-of-us-falls :

[ID: screenshots of two quotes.

The first is from Dracula by Bram Stoker, the May 16 entry. It reads:

' "How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." '

The second is from Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson, chapter 14. It reads:

'“I speak my Passion,” she said. “The man who killed the Pursuer has killed me. I claim prior privilege to the life of Stormblessed. The Pursuer must, in this case, wait upon my pleasure.” '

End ID.]

if-one-of-us-falls :

@knight-of-skyloft @sapphicspren

Kaleshwi Vampire AU is BEGGING to be written. I'm literally in the middle of work losing my mind over this and I wasn't even into vampires until a few days ago.

Leshwi has it all:

- red eyes

- immortal

- dramatic

- can fly

knight-of-skyloft :

Fused-as-vampires is so good because of the way they need a steady stream of mortal singer bodies to live AAAHHHH

Also Moash as a thrall who wants Kaladin to succumb to the same despair he did to validate his belief that humanity is broken/would rather see Kaladin dead than belonging to someone else/wants Kaladin's suffering to end like he wants his own suffering to end?

if-one-of-us-falls :

YES YES YES YES

also,

Leshwi smiled. He grinned back, a full-toothed grin, even while she was draining away his life.

👀👀👀

shouldbereadingprobably :

Likelyhood of survival past sa5

Kaladin: likely, doesn’t fit thematically for him to die tho I said the same for elend so who knows. Could still die if 90% of the cast is going down but not on his own

Shallan: very likely, she has way to much going on to just die. Might ditch roshar as a worldhopper tho

Adolin: maybe, he wasn’t supposed to have a huge role so not sure if there is much future plans for him. Also close enough to everyone important that it would hurt without doing too much damage to the plot. Already died once in wok prime and a grief arc could work if shallan needs more incentive to leave roshar

Renarin: main pov character, totally safe

Jasnah: also pov character, safe

Lift: same, brandon has already mentioned how she will be like 30 in the back five

Szeth: no idea, important enough that a death would be sad… but not that sad. If anyone has to go I’m choosing him

Navani: probably, someone has to run urithuru and make sure gavinor doesn’t become too traumatized. She also just became a bondsmith and started doing fabrial stuff so I wanna see were she can go. Might die sometime in the back 5 tho

Dalinar: yeah no…. Dude is fucked. The duel is in ten days and on top of that he is like… happy, in a good place mentally, makes remarks how he wants to be there for gavinor growing up…. Don’t think he will ”die” normally, but he is not making it to the back 5 as he is now

Oroden, gavinor or any other little one: they better or a certain author will not

butwhybother :

Headcanon time.

Manywar is the reason the Returned live the way they do now: no extra Breaths, no Awakening, no knowledge of anything except what is given them by the priests, and no knowledge of the past.

Five Scholars, who were Returned, were not forbidden extra Breaths (they collected thousands of them), they performed Awakenings (in some incredible ways, some of which has not been duplicated), they researched Bichromatic Breath and made new discoveries (like ichor alcohol and new Commands), and they knew who they had been (which is how Yesteel&Arsteel and Sashara&Denth know they are siblings).

Then, the stuff that the Five Scholars did led to Manywar and terrible destruction. So, the priests (the cult of the Returned) decided to control the Returned and take away some privileges, as a precaution, out of fear, to prevent another Manywar happening.

hugs-are-good-for-you :

"We didn't let ourselves get distracted by pretty things. Careful brother, those vines have thorns."

Yeah, well your pretty thing has a demon.

glitterghost :

I think one of the overlooked, underrated and most impactful quotes from The Raven Cycle is:

"I would take all of you anywhere with me."

I don't know why we don't talk about that quote more and the weight of it. The emotional depth of it. Like that is one of many examples of why it means so much to me. My heart aches at the understanding sentiment of it.