#the thief

sea-glass-and-fire:

one thing that i LOVE about the queen’s thief series is that MWT really took the time to make sure that we all understand that the protagonist is a weird, whiny little shit. like, she could have said “oh gen was just PRETENDING to be whiny and insufferable in The Thief, he’s actually cool and suave!!”

but no. she establishes that he’s a genius who’s been running a con the whole time, and ALSO he’s whiny and insufferable.

idk the more I read about the temple maze, the more I appreciate it. Like, it’s a test. A literal Thief test. Can you pick locks? Can you keep from being fooled by blind locks? Can you keep your head in a panic? Can you be spatially aware enough to keep from being turned around? Can you find the missing space?

It’s very neat.

something something no naos or pronaos or treasure room filled with gifts from the altar, but instead a corridor filled with priceless antiquities and ancient bones gathered from all those who tried and failed

Gen, upon entering the maze and seeing the room from his dream: If I had been a religious person, I might have stopped to pray in earnest, but it didn’t occur to me.

A few minutes later: “Gods,” I said aloud, “oh gods,” and turned back to the door behind me as the water washed my shoe out from beneath it and it began to swing closed.

Gen:doesn’t pray and mean it

Eugenides:We’ll see about that

Why, when the magus gave the Cliff’s Notes version of Gen stealing the thunderbolts, was it so necessary for Gen to make sure they knew about Lyopidus? Why did he HAVE to make sure the whole story was told, even before the story was told?

I so badly want to know what went down at the river between Sophos and Ambiades after Gen’s run-in with the rope.

Gen: I HAVE BEEN FLAYED ALIVE BY THAT HORRIBLE RIDING CROP

Sophos: oh no are you okay

Gen: Oh sure I’m fine why do you ask

Sequence of events:

Gen notices Ambiades’s ratty cloak and says something snide.

Ambiades hauls off and hits him.

The magus tells Gen to apologize.

Gen’s internal narration from the dirt:

Well, my position was not a good one, I was willing to admit, but it was easily changed.

Gen skulks away, then pulls out a comb and begins working on his hair.

The magus asks sharply where he got such a fancy comb.

Gen:

I looked at the comb in my hand as if perplexed. It was a nice one, probably very expensive. It was made from tortoiseshell, and it had long teeth, and was inlaid with gold at the ends. “I think it’s Ambiades’s,” I said at last. I’d taken it out of his pack.

OHO YOU SURE DID CHANGE YOUR POSITION DIDN’T YOU, YOU SLY LITTLE RAT-WEASEL BRAT BOY

I am angry that I have a whole dang English Lit degree and didn’t cotton on to Ambiades being the only one who didn’t strip to bathe.

(Spoilers for the whole series!)

I have been re-reading the Queen’s Thief series by M.W. Turner lately because I’m still salty about the delay of the last book (…I’d already ordered it! from Germany because they don’t sell it here! I had already paid and had to cancel!) and it made me wonder about a few issues the fandom has been speculating about. I have my own theories and I’m going to make several posts about it. 

Firstly - who will be the next Thief?

Many readers seem to think it will be Costis because he has already acted as the Thief  by stealing Kamet from the Mede in ‘Thick as Thieves’. I don’t really agree with this theory and here’s why:

1.      In general, Costis „doesn’t have the temperament” (to use Helene’s words) to be the Thief. Thieves of Eddis are independent souls and outsiders – Costis is a team player at heart. He didn’t take it well when Gen separated him from the rest of his squad in the Royal Guard.

2.      Thieves of Eddis like to play by their own rules – Costis is a natural follower. When he stole Kamet from the Mede he was following his King’s orders. What’s more, while Thieves of Eddis act on behalf of their monarchs they swear no oaths and might choose to go against the throne should they consider the person sitting on it unworthy. Costis, on the other hand, has already sworn an oath of loyalty and takes it so seriously that he couldn’t act against Gen even when he’d hated him and considered him the worst king ever.

3.      Thieves of Eddis need to be sneaky and conniving, and lying bastards at times – Costis is honest. He can lie when he has to but he doesn’t like to and is bad at it. He doesn’t like intrigue and it took him some time to realise someone was trying to kill him and make it look like an accident. He also had to be kept in the dark about some aspects of the „steal Kamet” plan for it to work.

4.    Lastly, Costis is too old - Gen started his training when he was still a kid. While Costis’ exact age (nor anyone else’s ) is never stated, I think it’s safe to assume that in ‘King of Attolia’ he must be in his late twenties at least.

To sum it up, I believe that Costis’ role in the ‘Thick as Thieves’ is not to be the Thief in his own right but to be Gen’s proxy – to act on Gen’s behalf, carry out his plans and go where Gen himself cannot go due to his obligations as a monarch. This is even stated in the book: Costis’ earring with his King’s personal coat of arms means that he’s Gen’s man and acts as an extension of Gen’s will.

But if not Costis, then who?

Well, I believe that a suitable candidate for the role has already been introduced. Someone of appropriate age to begin training, someone intelligent (but hiding it behind an obnoxious facade) and thinking „outside the box”; someone who – like Gen – doesn’t have much respect for authority, likes riling people up and yanking their proverbial chains for the heck of it, and who isn’t above snooping around in other people’s correspondence if need be (the need being his curiosity that is).

This candidate is the new Erondites heir.

Hey QT Appreciation Week(s), I haven’t forgotten about you, but my laptop isn’t friends with my Cintiq anymore so I’m having to do this the old fashioned way. In the meantime, please enjoy the photo below of Running Eagle Falls in my current office space, Glacier National Park. It has an upper falls and a lower one that emerges from a hidden cave, so it reminds me of the temple falls in The Thief.