Brb, I need to reread about a chaotically mouthy runaway with the survival instincts of a literal goldfish that finds his high-key disfunctional yet loyal and trusting family through a sport he has more love and dedication for than, like, his own life.
men’s football be like: angst, hurt/comfort, internalised homophobia, slow burn, pining, main character gets injured, anxiety, ambiguous ending, intricate rituals
I love when AFTG fanart has Neil's eyes looking like this:
I have many of thoughts about TSC. But to start off, I'm incredibly curious about Jeremy.
This book is dual POV between Jean and Jeremy. But the story revolves around Jean's journey. I think it makes a lot of sense considering he's been through so much—he needs the focus and time to get to where he is at the end. He's ready to open up and become his own person now for the next book. If that focus wasn't there on him, we might not fully feel this. Or if the focus was equally split, it might be a lot for one book. Cause I think Jeremy's got his own demons.
We know it's hinted at throughout. But that's it. Hints. Even in Jeremy's POV we barely get any insight. @kevindavidday mentioned that this very much might be done on purpose to show how Jeremy deals with his issues. Or that he doesn't deal with them, instead he distracts himself with those around him and tries to help them (i.e. Jean).
So just to go over what we know:
- Jeremy has a tumultuous relationship with his family.
- His family does not like Exy. They resent him for it.
- He doesn't get along with his step grandfather.
- Something odd about his siblings.
- He specifically avoids his older brother.
- Something happened after one of the banquets.
- He's gone/going to therapy, which apparently had helped him significantly.
- Despite him not liking living at home, there's an insinuation that he has to.
One theory I really want to put out there is about Jeremy's siblings. When Jean learns about the siblings, Cat stutters before saying the number. It leads me to believe that Jeremy's second brother is dead.
Taking into account that we have one scene with Jeremy's sister and at least know his older brother is in the house, that leaves one sibling unaccounted for. And considering the pause before saying the number, I think this indicates Cat was going to say "Two."
Taking this theory, does this connect to the banquet? Or at least why his family doesn't like Exy? There seems to have been an event that changed their family forever. Did his brother die because of something related to Exy?
Also who is his grandfather? Wealthy and seems to be a horrible person considering Jeremy of all people does not like him at all. What did he do to get Jeremy not to like him? Is he going to be a bigger player in the next book? Does he have a similar threatening influence that many high power figures have in the series?
I'm really excited to get these answers. We've spent so much time with Jean and his journey, I'm wilding to see Jeremy's. And how Jean might help him, just like how has Jeremy helped Jean.
I have things to say about their dynamic, too, but I'll leave that for a different post.
What if Agatha was ace?
Before I read the final book, here are my Very Serious bingo predictions
I haven't seen this theory, but was Ebb the actual Chosen One?
After rereading Carry On for like the second or third time, I just got the sense that maybe she was the one who was supposed to be the Chosen One.
For one, she is considered to be one hell of a powerful magician. Everyone acknowledges her power. I forget who said this, maybe the Mage, but if Simon didn't exist, than she probably would be the most powerful magician out there.
She never had a choice. It's a theme in Carry On about choice and 'destiny'. Agatha was supposed to be Simon's girl. Simon was the Hero™ and Baz was the Villain™. Everyone thought they were going to end each other. That was their ending. But it wasn't. Everyone's endings were definitely not the intended plan (and are still on going). Agatha really exemplifies this through her perspective. She gtfo cause Ebb never did. I think a point in Carry On is that you make your own choices and nothing is set in stone. (Which then disproves that prophecies exist, but we'll ignore that for now.) But Ebb never really had much of a choice. Whenever and whatever she did she'd always be involved in the wars, she'd be a threat or an ally. All she wanted was to raise her sheep, but the war came to her and she had to fight it. As if it was inevitable that she was supposed to save the day.
Also there's always Penny thoughts about gender in the world of the mages. Generally it's about gender stereotypes, specifically female stereotypes. But she makes one comment that makes me think Rainbow was trying to allude to something. I don't have the actual quote, because I'm lazy, but it was essentially Penny realizing rather the Chosen One, or Humdrum, or some other title could be female too, as she had just assumed that they were a he. So that makes me think it's more of a hint or *wink wink nudge nudge* from Rainbow that the information we're given isn't necessarily the 'right' information as it's all based on assumptions the world of mages has made. Which has been proven to not always be right, as demonstrated from our favourite trio when discovering that the Humdrum didn't actually cause the Watford Tragedy. And like a whole bunch of other stuff.
This is what I've sort of come to theorize. Now of course, Ebb didn't end the war. Simon got rid of the Humdrum and technically 'killed' the Mage. And who knows if the prophecy actually meant anything. Magic exists, but can it really tell the future? With all the effort the Mage did to look into it, it may have all been him just seeing the answers he wanted to see, not actual facts. (Side Note: what did he actually do to Lucy? To you know, make Simon the way he did? He made the most powerful magician, but how? What magic did he mess with?)
Anyways, it just feels like Ebb was a lot of things we never got to see or understand.
Thanks for reading this midnight ramble.
whoa look who just appeared in my hades 2 playthrough... crazy
sixth
consequences of tlt rereading