"Ladders" // The Last Kingdom // S4E1

I see halla-coded Lavellans and wolf/predator-coded Lavellans everywhere — and I love them! I love all of you!

Today I wanna talk about shepherd-coded Lavellan. The one who wanders, guarding her flock. Because she has so many people she loves, and who love her in return, but they don't understand. Not the way she does, seeing what she has seen. Looking the Dread Wolf in his eyes, watching him turn away, every line of his form cusping on turning back, coming back, coming back.

They are her flock, and so she must tend to them. Not because the shepherd is worth more than the sheep, but because their roles are different. Without them, she would not be herself.

But no shepherd is a shepherd without the wolf, either. The shepherd may guard her flock, but that is not where her eye must remain more often than not.

Always, the shepherd must watch the shadowed treeline. Always, she must await the wolf. It is her purpose: to be of use to her sheep, she must turn away from them, again and again and again, to watch for the monstrous. To warn them away.

To convince the fanged beast, whether with word or weapon, not to attack.

To be the shepherd is to be the in-between, as inextricable from the flock as from the wolf. And, if she does her job well, the sheep will never understand why she watches for threats that never seem to befall them.

But the wolf—the wolf will always know.

As much as I usually prefer playing mages and elves… reading The World of Thedas vol 2 in preparation for a new playthrough is actually getting me hyped to play a Cousland.

Reading about my soon-to-be Amalthea Cousland’s parents is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking:

Her mother, Teyrna Eleanor Cousland, was raised on the deck of a ship and was a fierce rebel raider known as the Seawolf during the time of the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden. After Maric retook Denerim and mobilized the northern banns to defend against Orlesian retaliation by sea, she met her future husband:

I considered the name Dane, from Fereldan legend, but I think Amalthea’s mabari will have to be named Mistral, after her mother’s ship.

After the war, when Bryce returned to Highever:

“Teyrn Bryce spent four months receiving oaths and taking possession of his ancestral home, and every day without fail he sent a letter to Lady Eleanor - sometimes more than one a day.”

The shanty in question:

I think that, even if this was something Eleanor “never shared with her children” they still learned about it from other sources. I have a feeling that a young Amalthea (or “Theo”) got in trouble when she learned the song and got caught belting it in the castle.

Years later, as Highever mobilized to assist King Cailan at Ostager, Theo would have a few notes stuck in her head, plaguing her as she couldn’t remember what song it was from… Until several weeks later, when she would hear the song played in a brothel in Denerim and the enormity of the loss of her family would finally hit her like a meteor.

The book has this to say in the section about Arl Rendon Howe:

Bryce was his friend during the rebellion against Orlais. They, along with their friend, Leonas Bryland, survived the massacre that was the Battle of White River together. Bryce was still his friend after Leonas cut contact with him. Bryce and Eleanor Cousland were at his wedding. They were the only people at his wedding. They were his friends.

They were his friends and he still slaughtered them.

I’m so unwell about this.

Sihtric Kjartansson

The Last Kingdom / Season Five Episode Eight

@gameofthronesdaily's HOTD SEASON 2 APPRECIATION WEEK Day 5: New Character(s) – Cregan Stark

↳ Starks do not forget their oaths, My Prince. But you must know that my gaze is forever torn between north and south. In winter, my duty to the Wall is even more dire than the one I owe to King’s Landing.

22 years later and the Crows are still cringing over Zevran. Truly the man of all time.

M.L.Rio, “If We Were Villains.”

Aesthetics | Original World State

Including: Origins to Inquisition

Kallian Tabris | City Elf Rogue (Assassin & Duelist)

Marian Hawke | Force & Spirit Mage

Jessamine Trevelyan-Rutherford | Knight Enchanter

“Stop isolating yourself from reality” well tell reality to stop sucking

we go on your [sigtryggr's] signal.

Sihtric Kjartansson

The last Kingdom Season Two -> Five & Seven Kings Must Die