there’s nothing profound about writing a character who’s near-suicidally devoted to taking down her enemies because she’s lost everything and then taking the last person she loves away from her and ending the show with her in anguish. there’s nothing groundbreaking about writing a character desperately struggling for agency & identity & to break away from the organization that abused her only to have her killed off in the process of destroying them, for shock value. and there’s certainly nothing new or fresh or clever about giving queer characters the tragic ending they were always “destined” to have, yet again. but whatever.
idk if it’s the alcohol that’s making me even more emotional but god the way that i would’ve been fine with an unhappy ending if they had killed both of them in a dignified/brawl with the 12 and not give such an undignified death to villanelle and basically give a big fuck you to viewers after finally giving us everything we wanted and have the cringey ass “the end” title card as the final slap. WHAT WAS EVEN THE POINT OF THE CUPID AND PSYCHE REFERENCES?????
i get the sense they were trying to placate fans by making the majority of the episode so….. sappy but i think they actually rly shot themselves in the foot with that. no one was accusing this show of doing bury your gays (because i think most people understood it is the type of show where People Die) until they went out of their way to have villaneve be genuinely happy together with very little other plot for 30 minutes and then just tacked on a needlessly cruel and brutal ending. like this isn’t a defense or an excuse of the show runner or the producers but i really have to wonder if they even understood what kind of wound they were opening for a lot of gay viewers by trying to “compromise” for those exact people
This story is bound to be the most controversial story that comes out of this book because many people will not agree with the direction this story takes, but personally, I love this story. Not only does it present something I already know about one of my favorite characters, it also presents hope for this characters future in this franchise. This story is what I would consider to be the Heart and Soul (no pun intended) of the Folk and Fairytales book. It’s a story about grief, and family and love, and it presents the question “how far would you go to save someone you love?” There’s similarities to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, which has the moral of “be patient and keep faith” which is a beautiful message and one Sylvanas Loyalists really need to hear right now.
Sister is Another Word for Always - By Catherynne M. Valente
Vereesa describes the day she knew her sister Sylvanas died, because she felt a hole opening up in her chest. “a chasm deep and dark, a blue crack through which every freezing bladed wind could blow until they made a song of marrow and loss. The song was her last breath leaving the green world forever.” Veressa staggered to her knees when she learned that her sister had been murdered. Her sister was Courage, because courage is what killed her.
Veressa dreams of a memory of her childhood, of her sister. She dreams of the two girls playing on the banks of a river back in Quel’thalas. “my sister dances up ahead of me, fearless through the long grass. Wild and white roses and crimson bloodthistle lick at her bare feet.” Veressa asks her sister to wait, because she is still little. Sylvanas does wait, and then she says “let me show you something” and she becomes quiet, an peaceful and she pulls a baby mithril-head trout out of the water. “Is it magic?” Veressa asks? “Gentleness only” Sylvanas replies. The fish gasps for air in Sylvanas’s palm, but it doesn’t try to escape, because finding itself surrounded by love, is better than being alive. Veressa urges Sylvanas to let go of the fish, she does and it dashes away. Sylvanas looses her footing on the slippery rocks and Vereesa is quick to catch her and the dream vanishes away with child Sylvanas running fearlessly into the direction of the bright sun.
But the dream does not sate Veressa’s grief, it’s just a painful reminder that her home and her sister are gone. Vereesa carries a mantle of grief, she wasn’t there to save her sister, and so she wanders aimlessly in a pilgrimage until she comes to a mountain, her grief has made her tired and she finds respite at a cemetery where she finds a statue of two elven women, one with her head in her hands, named Regret and the other looking with resolve named Acceptance, Veressa sees nothing but her sister. Veressa breaks down and cries, and she’s greeted by a blind Kyrian named Elomia, who asks her why she weeps, Veressa had planed many things to say but all she could muster was a shaky “I want my sister back.” Elomia replies “I am moved, and when blind judgement is moved, all doors of possibility open. You seek your sister Courage? very well: Go and find her.” opening up a portal to the Shadowlands through the Statue of Regret. Elomia gives Vereesa a warning, that her sister must choose to leave of her own will and that Vereesa must not touch her sister until she is free of the Shadowlands, only then can Courage be returned to the living.
Veressa finds her self in Ardenweald, where she imagines she’d find her sister, but the ground opens up and finds herself in the Maw. Veressa is taken aback, she’s no fool but she knows her sister doesn’t belong here, in the Maw but she presses on asking anything and everything in the cursed place, “Have you seen my sister, Courage?” but the stones replied “You will find no courage here, beyond the mask of virtue!” She asked the sky but they replied “Courage is banished here, beyond the shield of hope.”
She made for the Tower of the Damned until she began to give up hope. Suddenly a shadow appeared behind her, a shadow that radiated unnatural heat, a shadow that ate Light. Veressa feebly asks the Jailer of the Damned “Have you seen my sister, Courage?” and the Jailer replied, “You will not find her here.” Veressa says, “I know.” and “She could never be here.” the Jailer mocks her with “Not yet.” and as he turns to leave Veressa in her sorrow something flickers in his hand and then it springs forth and becomes alive swimming in Vereesa’s direction, a shimmering and blinking little fish, like the little trout. Vereesa chases it through the River of Souls, until she remembers how her sister had caught the trout with gentleness and so Veressa calms herself, the shimmering soul turns it’s direction and heads straight for Vereesa. remembering not to touch it she catches it in her hood. The soul then turns into her sister. Courage asks how Vereesa was able to find and catch her soul and Vereesa replies “it was love.” Courage reaches out to hug her sister but Vereesa warns her “Not yet!” they must first flee the Shadowlands and the Jailer’s realm. Veressa urges the soul of her sister to follow her. Everywhere Courage’s soul walks a trail of wild white roses and glowing bloodthistle blooms in the Maw.
When they are close to where Vereesa had entered the Maw, they discovered the jailer blocking the path of escape. “Let us go!” Veressa begged the jailer, but he only replied, “You may go, but thatmay not” pointing to the small image of Courage. “But she’s my sister.” pleaded Veressa. “A piece of her perhaps, but it is not for you.” The Jailer, raises his mace and swings at the pair but he doesn’t aim for Vereesa but instead brings his mace down through the vision of her sister. Courage looks pained for a moment, like she had been struck in the heart. She stumbles and Vereesa instinctively reaches out to catch her when she falls. They realize too late that the simple touch was enough to doom Courage forever, she cannot return. The Jailer looms amused over the pair, Veressa suddenly aware of what he’s done. “Why?” she cries, “Why give me a chance? why give her to me only to take her back?” The Jailer tells Veressa that this test wasn’t for Veressa, it was so that he could show his little fish how family always fails. Veressa sees her sister, gasping for air like the little fish, “let me go” she says. “I cannot” Veressa replies. “He is wrong. He will always be wrong.” Veressa could feel the cold blue hands of Elomia pulling her back to the land of the living and she sees her Sister turn back into a shimmering little fish of a soul and back the the Jailer. Veressa thinks , No we can’t part like this, this isn’t the right ending. this story is broken. It ends with everything put right again. it has to.
Vereesareturns through a portal through the statue named Acceptance. But then the statue of the elves is gone, replaced with some nondescript statue of some horned female, and the memory of her trip to the Shadowlands, was just that, a quickly fading memory, and soon it is gone.
The next two stories I’m going to recap are the stories about Uther and Veressa. I do think these stories are planting seeds for future Shadowlands story arcs so if you are adverse to potential spoilers, these two would be the ones to skip.
I main a paladin, and as you can see from my many posts about Uther and the Lich King I had to read this one as one of the first stories. It does not disappoint. I really enjoyed Shadows Rising and Madeline Roux is quickly becoming a foundational writer in the WoW sphere. She wrote the traveler series, which is an endearing but potentially off canon collection of stories about a young boy’s travels around Azeroth. This story is just as deep and charming as her other works. While it doesn’t offer too much in the way of “Spoilers” for Shadowlands content. It does imply one thing about about Arthas’s soul which may come up in Shadowlands in 9.1
The Paladin’s Beast - By Madeline Roux
The story begins when Uther is taking his rites to become a paladin, along with Saidan Dathrohan,, Turalyon, Gavinrad the Dire and Tirion Fordring. Alonsus Foal sends them all out on a quest to prove themselves as paladins and to accomplish something that tests their resolve. Uther was confident that he could overcome countless challenges all over Azeroth he asks the Light to forge him in doubt and fear and he will overcome it.
Uther sets out on his journey but is quickly beset by a storm, Lighting spooked his horse and he’s thrown backwards into a scalding pool, his armor too heavy he felt himself being pulled down, he contemplates if this is where he dies, boiled alive and drowned in heavy plate, he resigned himself to darkness until he saw a flicker of light dancing on the surface of the water. he fought to bring himself up to the surface and gasp for air
when he breached the surface he noticed three bathing maidens at the edge of the pool, two cowered from him but the middle one was not afraid of him, he did not recognize his surroundings, it was unlike any place he had ever known. One of the maidens is the princess of this realm, named Lady Miatharas, Beloved daughter of King Gilvin Artenes (if you haven’t already guessed these are anagrams for M.I.A Arthas and Living Terenas) who has hair like spun gold and wears a necklace of a sword around her neck, the hilt of the sword has a sapphire, which the lady says is a precious thing to her, a treasure fit for a prize.
The Lady tells Uther that he arrived in her Kingdom just in time for a Tournament, the lady begins to cry and Uther tries to comfort her by saying that he will enter the tournament and that no other champion shall be slayed by his hand. But the Lady tells him, this is tournament like no other and that all the champions must try to slay a beast. “No one has ever won the prize, and no one ever will.” Uther is unfazed by that revelation, he believes that the Light is more powerful than anything, his faith in the Light will help him best the beast.
Before the tournament they have a feast where Uther gets to see some of the other champions of the Tournament. While none of those champions are named many of them, are notable victims of the Third War, like Nathanos Marris (a soldier in green and gold) and others who helped defend Lordaeron during the Second War, a redhaired dwarf woman riding a griffon before she drove it into the sea, (who I imagine is a twist on Kurdan Wildhammer who in Tides of Darkness went through the Dark Portal) During this feast King Gilvin tells the story of his father King Aslin Artenes (Slain Terenas) who was killed by treachery, “King of winter, just and bold. Cruelly felled by one so cold.”
before the tournament Lady Miatharas tells Uther that the beast cannot be killed and anyone who takes up a sword against it is doomed. But when Uther looks for her on the day of the tournament she is no where to be found. When it’s his turn to face the beast he prays to the Light for wisdom, and kneels before the beast, from a kneeling vantage he notices that the beast is chained, it has welts on it’s legs from where the chain had cut into it’s flesh and Uther realizes that the beast is scared and he decides that the monster was forced into the field of tournament not of it’s own free will. Uther tells the beast that he will not fight it, closes his eyes and puts his hand on his heart. The beast then lays down before him. The beast surrendered. King Artenes hoists an urn above his head and says “behold our champion, Uther the Unbloodied!”
After the tournament Uther tries to find Lady Miatharas, who was awaiting him in her tent. The tent was draped with blue flowers, upon further inspection Uther noticed they were rotting. Everything in this bizarre realm seemed like it was just a beautiful haze over something more sinister. “You have come for your prize” Miatharas wept, The sapphire was the only thing she cherished in this whole world, but it was his prize and he won it. Uther moved by her tears, refuses the reward, chooses that “wisdom and compassion” that he learned from this test were his true prize. Before he leaves Lady Miatharas offers him a gift, and brands his chest with a a rune, and tells him one day he will understand.
Uther returns from where he came, and as he gets closer to returning from his quest, the memories of the strange land, the Tournament, the lady and the beast begin to fade like they were all just a dream. When Uther returns to Alonsus, he returns empty handed but in his heart he knows he did a great deed. He presents Alonsus with his unbloodied hammer as proof of his deed. Alonsus notices Uther has a slash in his untarnished breastplate over his heart, when Uther runs his fingers over it it feels cold like it’s been cut by ice.
Although Uther forgot about the Lady and the beast, legend says he saw the eyes of the beast again on a golden field when a blade of ice pierced his chest for a second time.
