The Folk Of The Air - Blog Posts
Do you think Cardan stole Jude's ring because he had already planned to marry her or he stole the ring cause he liked it and then thought "I will marry Jude... oh look, I can give her her ring"?
On Taryn Duarte - from someone who has yet to read the books
I saw some posts about the Cruel Prince and I subsequently fell down the Jude/Taryn rabbit hole. From what I've seen, Taryn gets the most hate from the fandom, even over the actual villains, which is pretty par for the course so I'm not surprised. But most of the excerpts and reasons I've seen come from her being very shallow and vain, and betraying Jude. Okay, that hate makes sense. BUT I am the diehard fan of hated female characters.
Prefacing this with the fact that I have not yet read the series yet, but I've seen multiple posts regarding the characters and have read excerpts and summaries, and the like.
I really hate the woman v woman that we're given so often in media and especially in ya, na, and a books. Those books usually giving the fmc one or two female friends to balance the waters, but they usually don't exist as more than appendages of the fmc.
Not sure if that's the case with the Cruel Prince, but Taryn's character seems to be the one-dimensional female foil, specifically with her overly feminine aesthetic and betrayal for the sake of romance. I think this is why I can't bring myself to actually read the books, because I know I'll hate seeing that.
Because of this I often find myself liking the "villainous" female characters as well when I find them to be anything but that, because I think they're also cool or I think that they suffer from a lack of nuanced writing (see Nesta Archeron). Jude is presented to be the villain, and I do like her and if she was the villain in another story I would also like her, but because she's still the character we're meant to root for she holds a weird place in my head since I'm not sure if Holly Black suffers from the crude idea of characterization and character relationships that is currently very prominent in fiction. I have heard that she gets a new LI apart from Locke, who she killed (yay! I love that), so it does seem to be looking up in terms of escaping the ya writing styles.
Therefore, in my head I will be holding the idea that Taryn is equally as masterminded as Jude and this is all a very elaborate ruse she's carefully cultivated since childhood and that she actually loves Jude very much. I am a sucker for tragic sisters.
...
if jude went to the mortal world and came back with a gun the series would be a standalone
I finished The Queen of Nothing and now Idk what to do with myself. I need more jurdan
“It’s okay to want something that’s going to hurt”
— Holly Black (The Queen of Nothing)
I think the full gravity of qon's climax just hit me again. Jude, who schemed so much to keep Cardan under her control in the previous books, didn't choose to do that again when she got the chance to. She had the chance to get alot of power, control over cardan and others, the chance to rule undisputed, to never be afraid again. But she didn't choose it. She chose Cardan instead. Chose him over herself too (she mentions she isn't sure if she'll be able to bear the pain of losing him). She let go of all that she wanted before because she didn't want to give Cardan a life of misery, of being trapped. She set him free, only to find him again.
SHE CHOSE CARDAN AND HIS LOVE OVER EVERY-FUCKING-THING ELSE—
brb while I weep again.
I just finished The Queen Of Nothing..
I already miss them so much.
It was a wonderful series that I read faster then I have any story in a long time. I read Cruel Prince immediately and waited for Queen Of Nothing to come out so I could read Wicked King and Queen of Nothing back to back.
Jude was a charcter unlike any other that I have read before. Her and Cardan’s relationship make me laugh, smile, and cry many times.
Reading those books kinda felt like going on a rollercoaster ride. So many ups and downs, schemes, and betrayals. I don’t know if I will enjoy a book as much ever agian.
Props to Holly Black for writing a great series and one that I will reread many times over. I know I will miss these charcters deeply.
No cuz this is like exactly how I pictured her
Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude —
I read tfota at like 14/15, i am now 18 and you don't understand the grip it put on me forever
Cardan Greenbriar is such a T*ryn hater and he's so real for that
you do realize that jude and cardan saw each other since they were kids right???????????? like, the general's mortal daughter, it was surely a constant topic among the high fae and besides, they probably studied together when they were younger than in tcp. THAT MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM
Reread this for the 373373736464 time
despite of everything i love madoc. i know he was awful and backstabbed jude after he helped build herself up, but he just loves her so much it hurts me. that scene where he is like "i am your father" and jude replies "you're my father's murderer" and the man just murmurs that "he could be both"..... HURTS??????? He always claimed her as HIS 😭 AND after reading the stolen heir it breaks me a little more.
Madoc always loved Jude the most. He was so proud of her, even if he wanted what she had. Perhaps he was FIRST person to ever see her true potential, and i just know that even when they were enemies, he was proud. (Dont touch me i love their father x daughter tragical story)
When Cardan punched Locke by the stairs it altered my brain chemistry in the best way
Cardan Greenbriar is actually too clever and he deserves credit for it
T*ryn Duarte is the worst fictional sister to ever exist like omg how can you be so stupid and unbearable
how am I gonna fall in love when no one will ever tell me they're forever undone by me and that i'm their sweet villain and darling god and their sickness and their sweet nemesis and the object of an obsession that disgusts them enough to think about the way i walk or the callouses of my fingers or the curls of my hair or an absent bite of my lip and-
do you think daily about the fact that Cardan thought Jude was ignoring his letters or are you normal?
cardan, aaron and kenji are the only men ever
The shooting stars scene in tcp was so good CAUSE IT MEANS THAT JUDECARDAN WAS MEANT TO BE. IT WAS FATE. THE STARS KNEW HE WOULD SURVIVE THE BLOODSHED. IT WAS MEANT TO HAPPEN. ALL OF IT.
random very messy sketch of Jurdan :3
I like Holly Black’s «The Folk of the Air» book series and there something Cardan once said to Jude that was carved into my memory, even though I couldn’t fully understand the meaning:
“By you, I am forever undone.”
But now, after getting to know Astarion, I think I am starting to understand.
Maybe it’s kind of love that feels like a wave washed over everything inside you, leaving no place untouched, changing you the way you’ll never be the same again. And how when you look at that person there is nothing about them that lefts you indifferent - every time you look at them you feel something in you falling apart, but in the best possible way.
Rereading The Cruel Prince and the way Cardan was so much obsessed with Jude that he didn't know what to do so he just wrote her name several times on the paper like a mantra crackles me up each time.
And the fact Jude thought he did it because he hate her Like GIRLL, he's mad obsessed over you!
Jude Duarte be like:
