If you're still doing those asks, can you do 6 & 7 for the SpAus couple please!
OH YEAH BABY I STILL AM STILL DO SEND MORE MY WAY THANK U
6. 🔍is there something about them you think isn't as recognised as it should be in the fandom? (a personality trait, relationship with another character, historical time period that isn't explored much with them, etc.)
I will say we moved on too quickly from the fact these two were canonically married in the series and it was a marriage that lasted at best two centuries minimum. And Himaruya even left it at that WITHOUT telling us the hows and whys ESPECIALLY THE HOW LIKE WHAT SORT OF DISPENSATION WAS ISSUED TO ALLOW TWO MALES MARRYING EACH OTHER EVEN JUST AS A SYMBOLIC THING?
In my personal HC Maxi I (Emperor Maximilian I) following his push for his son Philip marrying into the Spanish throne to Joana had the idea bcs he wanted to consolidate the power so bad from the low countries to wanting to secure a possible seat for the throne of HRE like even with his grandson born he was like naw we needa do more
I imagine at the wedding ceremony (Philip & Joana) Maxi saw Rodri and Antonio becoming acquainted with one another and the idea began spinning in his mind. He made his way over and buttered this prestigious Lord Fernandez up like yes yes yes this is our beautiful representative, he is the Austrian Duchy us Habsburgs hailed from, we owe much of our success to him!
Antonio nodding along like yes yes so I've heard word of the culminating successes due to this witty, intelligent little fox.
And bla bla they keep communication even after the event because well now the Spaniards are their in laws, they can poke their nose into the Spanish business. It leads to Maxi writing it in his dying will that Rodri and Tonio needs to wed and leaves it to Rodri to figure out how to mansplain manipulate the pope for the dispensation, he trusts his smart crown jewel can come up with something.
Spoiler, he did indeed come up with something.
Here's another veer off course for me in exploring how the two came to the solution because I like my SpAus with questionable morale and attraction type and I need to expand upon my idea of Antonio's characterisation.
Honestly I don't quite like the over jubilance ray of sunshine archetype and sure we've seen like so few crumbs in the series that suggests there's more beyond the surface level but it leaves me starved like a dog for more.
My take on Antonio portrays him with arrogance, suaveness and confidence of the major power he became by the time he met Rodri in the late 1400s. Sure, there were still conflicts between the Spanish kingdoms at the time but he carried himself well as a famed and seasoned warlord with many battle campaigns under his belt that shows a man very self-assured with this bragodocio display no less…
And he's ofc much older too sksks totally self indulgent aspect of adoring his uprbinging as Romulus' (Rome's) star student and tossing the man into the Legion added to his militaristic background and refined him into this beastly war machine unlike anything else at the time, is it any reason why he's so cocky by the time the Spanish empire was known as the empire where the sun never sets? Much more their crazy bar of the God, Gold, Glory in their imperalist ambition was so obnoxiously over the top.
1400s until 1700s Antonio was a riot and went through a period of the worst ups and downs a man could ever gone through, and when it worsened following the Spanish succession wars, when the Coalition wars did him worse, he eventually calmed down before one last wringer was thrown his way to humble him even more with the ah,, haha, ye good ol' dictatorship… that's another can of worms. Now I haven't studied too deeply and know the gist of the later eras, so back to the important courting period when Antonio first met Rodri.
He would've been intrigued by the duchy because of the unique position the Austrian has, he's not exactly the empire itself, and yet they've managed to put two of their own on the throne of emperor. In it of itself, to him, he who IS the Spanish empire, he was curious.
When he first became acquainted he was delighted at the possible alliance and found Roderich very, ah, comely for certain, a rare beauty unlike anything he's seen before that the Habsburgs singing him praises about the looks indeed were not exaggerating. A young and rising region managing to establish himself, Antonio's been there as well, they hit it off quite nicely the more they talked and let's just say
Antonio is interested in the way he's fond of a songbird and the idea of keeping it in a beautiful gilded cage is rather appealing.
Roderich has his own similar ideas too because not only does he have it in him to impress the guy who has quite the impressive resume to him, Rodri wanted the alliance for the benefit it'll serve them mutually and was ready to do anything to ensure the marriage between their monarchs was smooth sailing, and in his own way he was also. Um.
See let's just say getting word about the revenue of the Spanish empire has his greedy side wondering how much can we possibly, hopefully get a bit of that because for our mutual benefit, right? Hand on the bible Rodri swore it's not for himself that's crazy the gold should only just go into their necessary spendings. Totally. Mhm.
So throughout getting to know each other better and the occasional correspondence not much was in the way of any developing feelings, or so Rodri would like to admit; he fell first. Stupidly, ridiculously, in his admiration toward the empire he realised the person himself is charming in his own way and what's worse is during their brief meetings here and there the bastard is awfully handsy and doesn't understand the concept of personal space. Rodri isn't so easily swayed by such things, but it's the way Antonio sees and acknowledges his brilliance and capabilities in court, the way he had learned and perfected the etiquette used in the Cortes Generales (which in fact actually helped shaped Austrian's own courtly style too)
Rodri had moments where he had to slow down a little and wonder if at all it seemed he was too eager to please which Antonio assures he's not, but he does find it cute. Stupid silly moments like these, their talks extending hours when Rodri's over in the Spanish court or making diplomatic visits and the two matching wavelengths on several issues…
Though that is not to say Rodri does sense a bit of controlling tendency from the Spaniard which he supposed he could understand bcs if you're in that guy's position, who wouldn't want to micromanage things; which has resulted in a number of heated conversations but often Antonio played the placating card afterwards, as if soothing the temper of an unruly, troublemaking partner who doesn't know better just yet.
It can feel… patronising but Rodri resigned to it because again hey they're allies, they're in this together, better to resolve things, huh? One of the leading factors was definitely in capping French expansion some ways and when the time came to nominate someone to the throne, I imagined the marriage plan as willed by Maxi was presented by Rodri who was half uncertain and half "fuck it we ball" typa move to REALLY push for Charles' succession bcs otherwise are we really letting France put forward their candidate?
Antonio meanwhile was already pouring a shit ton of money into bribing electors and realised actually. Marriage doesn't sound so bad and getting to know each other all this time counts as courting, right? Right? Rodri didn't think Antonio would be down but well he took it eagerly as a pretense to further give the nomination an even stronger backing with the bribery and, "Look, the representatives being married shows a united front SO powerful there's no way you can deny there's anyone else better, right?"
Antonio fell later but fell so hard in a sense at first Rodri really was just a convenient pawn for him to consider in the grand scheme of things. Though admittedly he's grown quite fond of the songbird's chirping and perhaps it's not so bad staying longer in Europe if it meant spending time with Rodri. The caveat is that one of his terms is he wants Rodri to spend more time in Spanish territory to manage things with him too
Whereas Rodri only compromised with the exception of having spare time to tend to his responsibilities in central Europe and the Balkans. To which Antonio is rather perplexed bcs eh don't you have regents for that and besides you're just a Duchy, no? And Rodri's like :C (foreshadowing of their future arguments as the dynamic becomes more poisoned with romantic toxicity)
Because what started out as a mutual agreement on political basis turned more personal when Antonio's feelings overtime spilled into the arrangement, something about enjoying the other parts of the 'marriage' as two spouses together esp in bed and what have you more or less rewired Antonio's brain lmfaoooooo bcs I'd like to think man is SO pent up okay and Ik he fucks but when it came to Rodri hoooo weee it was like a whole different realm
Imagine you fucking around and it's like the same old yanno he's tasting the usual sweet fruits here and there but when he has Rodri pinned underneath him it's essentially tasting the heavenly nectar consumed only by god and the other dwellers, he didn't think it was possible HOO WEEE. Doesn't help Rodri uh. Also discovered new things abt himself for his first time; also virginity kink on Antonio's end. Somehow being Rodri's first emboldened him like crazy and turned him on so bad.
He became obsessed with being the only person to have claimed Rodri the way he did and the whole "I was the one who acknowledged you, I guided you where I could, I went along with this plan of ours, only me, me, me," he has to be the center of Rodri's world bcs all this time it had been just him and him alone but what if someone else was there? That someone happened to be Rodri
Yes this is unhealthy and not normal and not recommended I told you I like my SpAus questionably unwell okay they're meant to be like this it's awful.
On Rodri's side it's not any better either because he exploits this as much as he enables it because one it is incredibly flattering yes, admittedly suffocating but the benefits reaped out of it is more than enough for him to turn a blind eye and continue honeytrapping his own husband. The leverage he attained for entertaining the Spaniard is a double edged sword, the financial gains boosting his side of the empire is worth the time he spent being in the constant company of the man which at first was… almost dreamlike, if he were honest.
Antonio if you look past the uh, questionable traits from the short temper, the possessiveness, the sometimes questionable almost borderline zealous tendencies, is a very attentive and caring partner beneath all that. And for Antonio at least, peel back Rodri's perfectionist trait, pride, stubbornness, his fixation on work and proving himself countless of times, the ; the wit, the charm, the endearing parts are special to him.
Which makes the worsening politics so so messy for the two because they'd simply spite one another that for Antonio to lose all sense and commit infidelity was his way of asserting control once he felt Roderich was becoming too out of his reach (the success of repelling the Ottoman in the second siege, the success of reclaiming Buda) whereas his own empire was uh, facing some, troubles……… and frankly part of the finance faults can be largely traced to a certain someone.
Come the divorce it'd have damaged them irreversibly that only they themselves could… not to say fix one another in that moment, in the long run it becomes more to that thing of a unique pain only understood by the pair of divorcees because they inflicted the wounds onto each other and only they could lick it close in a way that lessens the pain. Something like how their love was so destructive but like moths to a flame, they'll put the pieces back together yet the same calloused hands with inevitably ruin it all again and in their own sweetly twisted way it makes it all the more real
This complex difficult ugly gnarly yet morbidly beautiful romance of theirs because ofc it's not easy ofc it's not all sunshine and rainbows esp for their kind, for a marriage of over a couple of centuries and years prior spent knowing one another, how it affected both of them significantly beyond words… their entanglement is historical in every sense that every way they look it's a part of their lives that cannot be erased or forgotten. The love indeed was there, no matter how strange it is…
Which is funny bcs how I draw them doesn't even capture any of this bcs don't be fooled everything's been a warmup and not the full picture of how I envision them sks they're so messy and lovely and the yearning that comes after is insane. I think Antonio was never right again after the divorce no matter how much he tries to pretend, those closest to him can just TELL.
But I am a hopeless romantic and not immune to a healing, happily ever after arc, I like to imagine they were able to overcome the hardships and achieve something close to comfort and warmth and the feeling of coming home when they get to embrace and cuddle together on warm, lazy days ..
7. 📚 choose one hc about this character to make canon: what would it be?
UGH UGHGUG JUST ONE IS SOOOO DIFFICULT ACTUALLY WAHHHHH
Man I can't choose but if I'm made to I think at least for Rodri: let him be more active pls I want him horseriding hiking walking fencing physical activity and exercises done let him have more muscles ty
for Tonio: he's far more cunning than people give him credit for, he's just good at putting up a charming front and he probably has certain sociopathic traits i'm ngl he's already a messed up guy why shouldn't i make him worse
SpAus edition: they both kept their rings and that both still wear it on their person with the other knowing about it
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