I’ve started rereading Guards! Guards!, and you know that funny feeling, when you watch Star Wars Episode I or reread first Harry Potter, and it’s kind of painful to see all this innocence and almost happiness when you know what crap will happen? Well, it’s like this, but in opposite direction: it’s weird to read about Vimes in that state and I constantly want to give him a blanket and tell, that everything’ll be alright, but I read that part, when he speaks not even with Vetinari himself, but with his secretary, and feels uneasy and kinda afraid of him, and then I think about that peculiar understanding Vetinari and Vimes will reach and their almost-equality, and it makes me happy in advance.
Sorry to just randomly add on to this with a tangent but your post got me thinking and then @the-tao-of-fandom‘s tags just hijacked my brain, but I like this post, and I like what it conveys.
That Discworld is the antithesis of dark and gritty fantasy, while fully embracing dark and gritty content.
When people talk about gritty realism, they never think of this. They think of a character being brought low and struggling and exploring pain because pain is real right? They think of never ending suffering and how strong a character must be to withstand it. And while I understand why this trope exists, I hate to say it (I don’t actually, I revel in screaming it from the rooftops), it’s not realism. It’s not even gritty. It’s just depressing and wholly unhealthy.
They never think of a mediocre, stifled and bitter character who is already suffering in very ignoble ways. There’s nothing honorable about Sam Vimes at the start of Guards! Guards!, there’s a vague sense of he does some good things but knows he should do better, his dear old mum didn’t raise him to be a drunk in the gutter and yet…
They never think that grit and realism can come out of becoming better. That the true strength isn’t just tolerating the pain, but learning to live through it and then without it, which is something else Sam Vimes struggles with, with all the hallmarks of a person having become well and finding a place of mental stability, but knows all too well what lurks in the deep. He stops being afraid of success, and instead starts to fear what happens if he stops. What will happen to his family if he stops. So he stays well. He does the steps, one day at a time. He will do this not to save the world, not to prove a point, but because there’s people who love him. It’s a very human reaction. It’s a very human need.
And that’s where the Pratchett books thrive for me. You start as low as you can go, and work your way up. It’s the stories of real life people, set in this fantastical world, and we get to watch reality unfold around them through very human experiences. It is, quite literally in Vimes’ case, putting one foot in front of the other until you are whole again. And even when you still might not feel it, there will be others there to fall back on. Even if it’s Nobby Nobbs. (Especially if it’s Nobby Nobbs, who I like to believe always makes sure urchins have their own spoon, and that’s why everyone in the Watch House has to stir sugar into their tea with a knife.)
You are not alone in this world. Things will get better. And you should try to make things better too because we have a responsibility to each other that goes beyond not being a dick.
I headcannon JL to be an emotional drunk because as a hereditary tsundere, he keeps all his feelings bottled up, so he’s gotta let it all out when drunk or he will explode.
As for LSZ, he’s technically not a real Lan so I don’t think the drunk trait applies to him. Besides, he probably inhaled a lot of alcohol fumes as a child, he’s probably developed a higher tolerance. Poor guy’s the designated driver every time.
They all felt it. A strange
sensation, some sort of pressure that pushed onto their being, like a wave
crashing into them, pushing the air out of their lungs, sending shivers down
their spines, though the sensation held no malice, no killing intent.
“Tao?” Takeo called, uneasiness
in his voice, the first thing that came to mind was that this could be a Union
attack.
“I’m on it!” Tao replied, already
having his laptop out and typing furiously, checking everything from radars to
satellite footage to camera feeds.
RAJAK SHOW YOUR BROTHER MORE AFFECTION. seriously tho. You can tell Rael never got any love as a child… look at how shocked he is that Rajak gives even the slightest shit about him agh. I’ll probably end up crying for my trash son at one point.
Aidjsu aww thats so sweet.
What do you mean you understand his reaction. He’s shocked and horrified but also happy because the man he was in love with is alive okay. Let him be.
Lmao foreshadowing
I mean… basically yeah. I love Karias tho oml. He’s so stupid but simultaneously lovable.
there are missing sailor saturn and chibi moon, i would like to do also the villains, i am dreaming of a queen beryl and the 4 general in art nouveau style. I did the good guys i should do also the prince diamond , the dark moon and the witches from sailor moon s?
- explain Vorloupulous’ law in detail and then break it like ONE SECOND LATER, because what’s the point of a vacation if it doesn’t involve some casual treason among friends - think unironically that maybe he can get over his thing for tall women by sleeping with an 8 foot tall supersoldier (spoiler: doesn’t work) - “Would you believe, I’m here by accident? Oser wouldn’t.” I WONDER WHY MILES! Maybe it’s because you just happened to turn up in the middle of an interplanetary arms race to steal his mercenary fleet for the SECOND TIME? - “Who are you?” “I don’t even want to talk about it.” - lost AN ENTIRE EMPEROR once - is a trained Imp Sec operative, but primary method of staying undercover is hoping no one looks him up on Wikipedia - memorized all of Richard III - only comes up with the cover story that he’s Miles Vorkosigan’s clone right before his actual clone tries to murder him - the dramatic farewell kiss with Bel in front of a room full of people - possibly the worst dinner party ever thrown in the history of the WORLD, so bad calling it a trainwreck is an insult to trainwrecks - after she proposes, immediately started doodling Ekaterin’s name
in his notes like a lovestruck teenager while the Council of Counts was still in session - casual friendship with an enemy Cetagandan general who he can call in a pinch - when someone asked if he was Tien’s murderer and he got so fed up that he was like bitch I might be
beat truth serum by tALKING TOO MUCH
manages to win over tough, intelligent, competent woman while completely naked and vulnerable and in her power
more than once
is so much of a chihuahua who thinks he’s a saint bernard that he falls into a pond trying to pull ekaterin to safety (shouting NEVER AGAIN) because he forgets she outmasses him like whoa and he refuses to let go
would have done the same thing with beatrice if he’d caught her in time, this time not into a pond but into the DEPTHS OF SPACE without a pressure suit
and one not so much extra as really petty thing he did:
his fellow vor cadets wouldn’t let teenage miles march with them in a parade because he was too short. they forgot that you have to break up your cadence marching over bridges. rather than remind them, he stands back and watches them collapse the bridge and fall in the river
- as a 5 year old only child, somehow “outnumbered” his parents - broke both his legs, then slid down the banister in Vorkosigan House anyway - went from thinking he was going to be eaten by a werewolf to falling in love with same werewolf in .1 seconds - managed to get lost WHILE DEAD - compared his future wife to a horse, unaware that she was also comparing him to a horse - thought he might be panicking prematurely when he was nearly assassinated
- what i did on my summer holiday by Miles Vorkosigan aged about eight: stole historic tank and took it for a joyride with the emperor, demolished barn and caused landslide
- what i did on my summer holiday by Miles Vorkosigan aged 22: accidentally saved wrong empire, quickly fudged it so also saved correct empire
- what i did on my honeymoon by Miles Vorkosigan aged 30: saved both empires from going to war against each other while investigating a shipping problem. also while in a coma
-“What are my pupils doing now?” “Pulsing.” “It’s fine.”
-can’t believe nobody’s mentioned that time he literally broke every bone in his hands in order to get out of handcuffs
-led a commando assault on a terrorist hideout while poisoned by a deadly bioagent
-once talked an eight-year-old out of a locked bathroom
