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Jurdan supremacy
Okay sooooo, why is no one talking about Cardan’s real voice?
I was looking back at my annotations and remembered an important detail about cardan’s development.
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“I don’t know,” Cardan says again, in a raw way that makes Oak think of being trapped in the royal bedchamber and overhearing him and Jude together. It’s Cardan’s real voice, the one he uses when he’s not performing.
(TPT, chap 20, pg 269)
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Here’s another quote:
“I have little experience of dispensing brotherly wisdom, but I know a great deal about mistakes. And about hiding behind a mask.” He salutes with his wineglass. “Some might say that I still do, but they would be wrong. To those I love, I am myself. Too much myself sometimes”
Oak laughs. “Jude wouldn’t say that.”
Cardan takes a deep swallow of plum-dark wine, looking pleased with himself. “She would, but she’d be lying.”
(TPT, Chap 24, Pg 347)
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This is such an important detail and a great development for Cardan. I love how deep Holly Black goes into her characters. In most of TFOTA series, we got to see this cruel, and angry prince who hid behind a mask to make himself look scary. Fast forward 8 years later, he slowly took that mask off to only those he loves and cherishes, Jude, and the rest of the family. Can’t wait to see more of Cardan in the future!
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Anonymous asked:
Sorry to bother with questions but do we ever find out where Cardan was when he didn't return to bed with Jude those few nights? As he seemed to be avoiding the question when she asked. Was he with someone else?
Questions never bother me, I love to talk! I assume you're talking about that TQOF scene after Jude's presentation banquet. Feel free to disagree with me, but I think that to think that Cardan is just a womanizing boy is not to understand even half of his personality, especially when (I've already posted about this) he's the most sensitive character in the series.
In my view, it's implied in the book that Cardan's vice is drink, not sex. I'm not saying that he's a pure boy who didn't like taking part in orgies, but there are some points that show that it wasn't his priority. For example: Cardan isn't seen making dirty jokes or analyzing women's bodies like Valerian (except with Jude). He never had two lovers at the same time like Locke and Nicasia (I'm not saying that the intention of these two was just sex, but obviously there was a lot of desire for Jude on Locke's part and for Locke on Nicasia's part too).
And the main point for me, is that we see in TWK, when Jude invades Cardan's chambers at Balekin's behest, he is completely alone in bed, that is, at a time when he is worried about Jude and the situation of the kingdom is delicate, he doesn't have time to think about sex or anything like that, so to think that Cardan is still the same boy who only thinks about the pleasures of life and hasn't matured is to ignore his evident change in the second book. It's clear that in important situations, such as when the Crown of Blood is at stake, he no longer maintains the behavior of enjoying himself like a member of the circle of grackles.
It's not exactly proof, but on the same night that Jude breaks into his rooms, he confesses that Balekin forced him to take part in orgies, meaning that his perverted behavior was practically forced on him by his brother. It's no wonder that when he met a girl he liked, Cardan immediately committed himself to an engagement. And here, we all have to agree because it's obvious that he was always faithful in his commitment to Nicasia, their relationship was totally monogamous, otherwise he wouldn't have been so heartbroken by her betrayal.
Which brings me to the conclusion of your question: Cardan was faithful to Nicasia because he loved her and the two of them were engaged, in other words, they had a solid commitment. And he remained faithful to her until the engagement was broken. Cardan respects commitments, he has many faults but he is one of the few loyal characters in the books. So, throughout TQON Cardan and Jude had a real commitment, they were married by fairy law. Whether the marriage was consummated or not, I believe that he remained completely faithful to her. 1- Because he loved Jude and was completely fall with her.
2- Out of respect for their legitimate marriage.
3- Because he was too busy worrying about Jude's exile, her whereabouts after Madoc's invasion, her health and, most importantly, how to win her love. He wouldn't let himself be carried away by frivolous desires, especially when his greatest desire was her. I believe that when Jude asked where he was, Cardan didn't imagine that she might be jealous, so he answered without bothering to give details. Even when Jude expresses her feelings in words, he is still unsure and in doubt. Perhaps he was too embarrassed to say where he stood, or he was just a little slow to be objective. Someone here on tumblr already commented that he was probably in the Court of Shadows and I totally agree. And I would add that he probably spent nights drinking, playing cards and worrying about Jude's recovery and how to win her heart.
I think that sometimes, like Jude, we overcomplicate Cardan's thoughts and intentions, when in fact he is simple and even naive in his actions lol. Sorry for the long text, I hope I've answered your question 💗
If Holly’s next Elfhame book is told by Cardan’s POV I could die so happily. It would be very interesting to read Cardan’s thoughts on going back to The Undersea and seeing his ex-fiancé Queen Nicasia find a groom to marry to save her kingdom. Let’s not forget the fact that Jude does not have good memories in the Undersea, and how Cardan had a panic attack being deep in the sea. I’m excited to see how it all plays out and how much the characters have grown to be.
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I don't feel like people have a nuanced enough view of Kory what she thinks about killing. She's not blindly wanting to murder criminals, nor is she delighted by the actions of murder. She sees murder as a necessity because of her upbringing in the middle of an existential war, and also as a way to regain autonomy on her life. Autonomy is a key theme in many of the people Kory chooses to kill.
The idea of autonomy over the body and her life is extremely important to Kory. This makes sense, Kory spends six years in slavery, her life not her own, and grew up knowing her planet could lose its own autonomy and freedom at any time.
When she was a slave, the few times that she was able to control her life in those times. Her first kill was her kill of what would become her last master, starting the chain of domino that would result in her freedom.
Note her words: "His very touch sickened me". It wasn't just about her imprisonment or her anger, but about her body, her autonomy. She couldn't handle being touched like that anymore, and killed knowing that it would solve nothing, knowing that it would lead to more punishment for her later down the line.
Her next kill allowed her to escape, securing her freedom and her own autonomy.
To escape she must pretend Kory has completely given in to her captors. That she is fine, even happy with the Gordonian touching her. But by doing this she is bringing him close, giving him the illusion of control over herself to secure her own freedom.
She is pretending to be a slave, while affirming to herself that she is still a soldier.
In this way we can see a dichotomy that has ruled Kory's life until now. On one side, you have succumbing to subjugation, which involved a loss of bodily autonomy. On the other side you had her claiming her freedom and her autonomy which comes with the need to kill or be destroyed.
In addition to this, you need to think of the context of Kory's upbringing. Of course Kory is used to killing her enemies. She grew up in a climate of fear in which there was a real possibility of total annihilation. Millions of her people died in the war that eventually lead her to being sold as a slave.
She grew up during a society that could have been destroyed in war, where everyday killing was not a questions but an existential threat. Killing and war was literally the only way for her people to conserve their autonomy.
This disconnect between Dick/Donna and Kory is not because Kory is an alien, but because the Titans are living in a world where they are superheroes and Kory is living in a world where she is a solider. Would a Kory that didn't kill even been able to come out alive from war? From her enslavement? To her its about her autonomy and her independence, she doesn't have the luxury of morals, of thought, of choice.
Later we see Kory not change, but shift. She realizes that killing will never be easier for her again.
This makes sense! her interpretation of killing has changed a lot because she's been exposed to a new environment. On earth she is not facing a literal war, she has real power, she has backup, she doesn't have to fight every second for her freedom and autonomy.
I think this is demonstrated in an incredibly narrative compelling way in Titans (1999) when Kory kills to give another character autonomy over her own body; Adaline Kane. Adaline is about to die, but her blood can still be harvested for Vandal Savage's experiments. She begs for death, instead of living that fate.
Kory gives it to her.
(much like Slade gave Joey in Titans Hunt but this post only has the space for one parallel right now)
When it comes to protecting the greater good, and especially when it comes to bodily autonomy Kory is not only willing to kill, but sees it as her duty.
She's never stopped being a soldier, she's never stopped being the Tamaranian who was forced to kill and see her people die to preserve her home, but more than that, she never stopped being the little girl for whom killing was her only way of reclaiming her autonomy.
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cardan just wanted love. 😐
i was just replying to someone regarding nicasia and i had this sorta realization moment abt cardan lol
Cardan is consistently merciful toward people that wrong him. To his abusers.
He spares his mother when she leaves the tower of forgetting. He gives her a courtier title. After her lifelong abuse. he spares balekin from execution time and time again, despite all the death threats and beatings and humiliation. he forgives nicasia and Locke and remains (sorta) friends with them after they screwed around behind his back and broke his heart. He forgives Jude for putting him on the throne, for killing balekin.
Cardan has the capacity to be a lot kinder to those he cares about. While he attempts to act like he has a stone heart, he cares so deeply about the few people around him. No matter how they treat him in return.
Even his sisters, whom treated him like a dog when he was a child, throwing food at him under the table. He held balekin responsible for killing them, even when they had little love for him.
and his father, whom tossed him out of the kingdom for dains lies. He still strove for his fathers love and attention. And he did what he thought he needed to do to get that attention.
All he wanted was love, and he gave a lot more of it than he wanted to show. I’m so glad he found it w Jude 😭
And with Jude, he gave her everything. He gave her half of his army bro. HALF OF HIS ARMY just because she ASKED. She didn’t even have to order him to do it, because he trusts her and he so badly wants her to trust him too.
He secretly desired (and eventually cared for) her for yearsss. It’s so sweet how they went from school rivals besting and beating one another, to them making each other king and queen. ENOUGH
moral of the story, he just wanted LOVE. 😭😭😭😭😭😭
I’ll never stop thinking about them, idc how generic and obvious my posts are, every throwaway thought i have of them i will post
Anonymous asked:
The one user you mentioned being in Holly’s comment section was not happy that you posted it with their user so they cussed you out in their Ao3 note section at the end of one of their works 😟 I just thought you might want to know if you didn’t already
Caught me off guard when I just wanted some Jude Cardan fanfiction lmao
Oh yeah! The same user spammed my inbox with curse words telling me to go to hell and that I'm a b*tch, they also sent me a link to their fan fiction. So I'm aware, but thank you! I would've had no problem taking that post down immediately if the user had reached out politely, but with that ugly a** behavior.....then nevermind. I'll accept the free shout out. Thanks for finding me though! I appreciate it.
Here are some of the things they put in my inbox: (the user is STILL filling my inbox words with curse words LOL)