callie

Dear Pax? Baby Ulysses? How could he? Fitchner? Ragnar? Dnacer? DAXO! Ephraim? Alexander! Oh god and more and more.

Like i believe some were for the plot and others to build a plot around. But DAMN.

CASSIUS

red rising edition? please have a go

This was fun.

I will say the two areas were its like, “ like the design, dislike the character/dislike design, like the character,” i’m understanding it as;

I like what this character added to the story, but i hate that fucking bitch and,

I really enjoyed this character but there was some lacking in rounded character depth im missing out on.

It’s insane that two different bitches with horrendous face scars are both such intense antagonists in different ways. But without them, there is less motivation to this story I believe. Because harmony realistically is what can easily happen to people who have lost their sanity and choose revenge instead of rebirth.

Lmfao Darrow did the horse trick again, what is it with him and hiding in the stomachs of larger creatures? I do feel for that poor sea beast.

On a more serious not I think there's something to be said about this parallel coming right when FINALLY we are back to basics as to WHY it is that the Republic is fighting. It's as if finally acknowledging that spark is what was fundementally missing from the previous disastrous battles. I cried a bit in the speeches made to the daughters. I don't wanna get too hopeful but it feels as if things are finally gonna start working out because of the trust in our fellows.

And while there are so many characters having been described as having a deeper skin tone, I believe that one of the most clear examples is when Colloway xe Char is introduced and it literally labels him with ebony skin.

the Grimmuses are not genetically mixed to the point of lacking any distinct racial features--none of the Golds are, except maybe Bronzies, who are in fact singled out for having mixed, and therefore "weakened," bloodlines. but every other prominent Gold House--Grimmus, Bellona, Augustus, Saud, etc.--are directly descended from at least one Earth population. the Grimmuses are specifically African and North American. christ y'all, that is directly stated in the books. they are Black.

moreover, it is true that low and midColors are more genetically diverse than Golds, but to say that they are never distinctly one race or ethnicity is also false. PB has directly stated that Ephraim, a Gray, appears more Southeast Asian than other characters, despite also being of mixed ethnicity, because SEA is more dominant in him. it is just wildly implausible that after 700 years, people would be so genetically homogenous, no one would ever show features characteristic of one particular race/ethnicity. like, no. they obviously all have at least a couple genetic lines that show more prominently.

interestingly, this excuse always gets brought up when people talk about the characters that are either overtly stated to be people of color, or at the very least, are extremely heavily coded toward a certain race--Lyria, Orion, Colloway, the Nakamuras, the Grimmuses, etc (i've literally had people fight me on the Nakamuras being East Asian as if PB just spun a wheel and chose that name for no particular reason, as if coding is not a thing basically every author does)... but, interestingly, people have no problem headcanoning, drawing, and describing the characters as distinctly white. if this flimsy excuse were really true, no one should look white and/or European, either. everyone should look like a perfect average of every race. yet everyone is happy to picture/depict the Bellonas, the Augustuses, Darrow, etc. etc. etc. as having fair skin and eurocentric features. curious! (not saying anyone's wrong for drawing them that way!! but the !! double standard ???)