quick sketch
Anonymous asked: Hello there! I just finished reading Fire the second Graceling book, and I was wondering what you thought of the main character? I wasn't particularly fond of her myself . I'm so used to really strong female characters that I was hoping I missed something in her something that made her strong in her own way. Hope that made sense lol
I actually really like Fire because she isn’t conventionally strong. She’s kind and gentle and a lady and she hates her power (and I’m aware that she’s a metaphor for the male gaze and all that, but I’m going to discuss her just as a character for now) but learns to use it for the greater good and okay, I admit that her obvious but matter-of-fact chemistry with Brigan is probably at least 50% of why I like her, but there’s so much more than that. I like the tragedy in her story, the uniqueness of her desirableness (I like that there’s a legitimate reason for men finding her irresistible and that it isn’t used in a skeevy or self-serving way, and that this is both her greatest power and the reason why she’s so alone). I like that rather than learning to grow into her power, the main point of her story is learning to forgive herself for it. Self-loathing is something a lot of people deal with - self-forgiveness seems to me a kind of strength in itself, doesn’t it?
(random side note: I also love Sansa Stark for similar reasons (that she’s unconventionally strong) because of the way her story breaks her down and builds her up and she isn’t particularly clever or resourceful but she knows when to keep her head down and there’s a very good reason she’s still alive).
Painting is hard ;_;
preview of this sketch (still wip)
THE NEXT DAY, she was walking the path from her house to Archer’s, quiver on back and bow in hand, when one of the guards called down to her from Archer’s back terrace. ‘Fancy a reel, Lady Fire?’
It was Krell, the guard she’d tricked the night she’d been unable to climb up to her bedroom window. A man who knew how a flute should be played; and here he was, offering to save her from her own desperate fidgets. ‘Goodness, yes,’ she said. ‘Just let me get my fiddle.’
A reel with Krell was always a game. They took turns, each inventing a passage that was a challenge to the other to pick up and join; always keeping in time but raising tempo gradually, so that eventually it took all of their concentration and skill to keep up with each other. They were worthy of an audience, and today Brocker and a number of guards wandered out to the back terrace for the show.
Fire was in the mood for technical gymnastics, which was fortunate, because Krell played as if he were determined to make her break a string. Her fingers flew, her fiddle was an entire orchestra, and every note beautifully brought into being struck a chord of satisfaction within her. She wondered at the unfamiliar lightness in her chest and realised she was laughing.
- Fire by Kristin Cashore
Dream something nice.
A short list of the Raffin/Katsa bantering in Bitterblue because it amuses me so. c:
-
“You’re doing well,” Katsa said. “You have quick instincts—you always have. Not like that nincompoop,” she added, with a roll of her eyes at Raffin, who was sparring with Bann awkwardly at the other end of the practice room.
Raffin and Bann were far from evenly matched. Bann wasn’t just bigger, he was faster and stronger. The cowering prince, who handled his own sword ponderously, as if it were an impediment, never seemed to see an attack coming, even if he’d been told exactly when to expect it.
“Raff,” Katsa said, “your problem is that your heart’s not in it. We need to find something to strengthen your defensive resolve. What if you pretended he’s trying to smash your favorite medicinal plant?”
“The rare blue safflower,” Bann suggested.
“Yes,” Katsa said gamely, “pretend he’s after your snaffler.”
“Bann would never come after my rare blue safflower,” Raffin said distinctly. “The very notion is absurd.”
“Pretend he’s not Bann. Pretend he’s your father,” Katsa said.
This did seem to have some effect, if not on Raffin’s speed, then at least on his enthusiasm.
-
“Your face will freeze like that, you know, Kat,” Raffin said helpfully to Katsa.
“Maybe I should rearrange your face, Raff,” said Katsa.
“I should like smaller ears,” Raffin offered.
“Prince Raffin has nice, handsome ears,” Helda said, not looking up from her knitting. “As will his children. Your children will have no ears at all, My Lady,” she said sternly to Katsa.
Katsa stared back at her, flabbergasted.
“I believe it’s more that her ears won’t have children,” began Raffin, “which, you’ll agree, sounds much less—”
-
“What!” Katsa exclaimed. “I can’t believe it. Can you believe it? I can’t believe it!”
“We’ve established that Katsa can’t believe it,” said Raffin.
-
WIP sketch of Katsa, Fire, and Bitterblue - will clean and color later!
“Saf considered her. There was something new in his expression tonight. For some reason, it frightened her. His eyes, which used to be hard and suspicious, were softer, touching her face and hood and shoulders, wondering something about her.” - Bitterblue
The fastest way for me to fall for a pairing is to describe someone looking at someone else with soft eyes damn it
I’m getting the feeling that Saf idolizes Po and it’s adorable
Stealing from a drunk, are we, naughty Bitterblue ;)
I like that she can think on her feet, even if her advisors are sort of puppeteering her rn.
