Limoni

Also I don't think it works technically. When Oak tries to love talk Wren he needs to talk to her directly to make her do what he wants. He's not giving an order directly but he still needs contact. And Taryn came up with a marriage blackmail before she came to see Locke if I remember correctly so he didn't have an opportunity to charm her.

Yeah, giving Locke that ability and having him actually use it makes no sense in the story we were given. Based on what happened with Oak and Wren, it's easy to tell when some is using love-talk on them. I could maybe buy Taryn might not be aware (I'd need a really good explanation, though), but Nicasia? Cardan? None of the various Folk that Locke was dealing with? None of them knew?

Taryn is the only one who continually endangered Judes life ( starting the chain of events where Valerian almost kills her twice, leaving her alone with Valerian in the tower, leaves her in the lake of nixies alone, send Jude to the court where she is exiled from to cover her which coulve definitely gotten her killed if caught , stole half of her army to give to Madoc giving him an advantage to start war where she couldve been overthrown and killed in battle) and gets away with it unscathed.

And Jude never ever takes her lick back. She doesn’t even acknowledge it as danger for her life. Taryn sacrifices Jude at every turn for things Jude would never have chosen over her. She throws away her relationship with her father. Making him an enemy to protect Oak and Taryn abandons her to her fate and almost causes her death to get with Locke. And steals her army to appease Madoc.

Its the misbalance between the sisters where one only takes and one only gives that i think inspires the hatred for Taryn.

whenever there’s discourse regarding taryn’s mistreatment of jude in the first book, majority of the fandom seem to be focused or most bothered by the locke fiasco but for me the scenes that stood out the most were the river scene and the scene where taryn stole jude’s fabric for the coronation dress. some argued that since taryn was expecting to be proposed to on the night of the coronation, it makes sense that she would want to stand out (which is fair), however if she had been a more decent sister, she should’ve let jude have at least one nice thing for the night (the fabric) since that would also be the night where her betrayal against her twin sister would come to light. bcs let’s be real… if taryn were a decent sister, she really would have considered of letting jude keep the nice fabric (especially as oriana pointed out — jude found it first) as her first attempt to redeem herself and make up for her dishonorable action of sacrificing her twin in exchange for a permanent place in faerie. but no taryn simply couldn’t let that happen. instantly she had to take the fabric from jude right then and there.

ironically, it was jude’s sworn enemy who was more considerate of her feelings in that situation. said enemy who knew what it was like to be betrayed by a loved one, gifted her an extravagant gown, in hopes to cheer her up and spare her from the humiliation and heartbreak of her sister’s betrayal.

And also some pointed out recently ( its in my reblogs somewhere) that Cardan figured out what was happening at the river and he tried to show Jude that Taryn would betray her in his own way. Im not saying its out of concern but even HIM deems what Taryn is doing as fucked up.

Prince Cardan:

kicked dirt onto Jude's food

thrown Jude into a river and threatened her implicitly with drowning

threatened Jude to curse her with longing a kind word from his lips

High King Cardan:

ate dirt not to die

felt like he was drowning while Jude was under the waves

so i’m reading the scene with the river and i realized something i had not noticed in any of my previous rereads—

the pause after he asks “does that feel noble?” and taryn’s hitched breath— this is the moment cardan realizes he was going after the wrong twin. and taryn knows she’s been found out

(afterward, nicasia and locke’s reactions show that she knew all along (imo) but they don’t matter rn)

anyway let’s see the next part:

cardan is now looking at them both more closely. this part of the scene and this question always felt off to me— like it didn’t belong— but it is actually just cardan working out the details in his mind. he had thought all along that jude was the one that ‘took locke from nicasia’ (barf—more on that later) but here he is realizing that they are not actually identical.

moving on

here i believe that now that cardan has come to the realization that taryn is not who she appears to be, he is (in some way) trying to show that to jude

while also reveling in this fact (remember, he is still cruel at this point. he doesn’t like her so much as resent her. his ‘being nice’ is still more about him than her at this point.)

and also we see taryn worried that jude might catch on— in this reread i noticed way more how she tried to hide the secret and yet made it more obvious. she literally has guilty face/attitude all throughout this book (well until it all comes out)

oh i almost forgot

yeah he was very direct with her here— obviously there is a double meaning because taryn abandoned jude here but also she has abandoned her in the sense that she has allowed her (j) to take the abuse meant for her (t)

Mmmmmm

"When I cut you open," Andrew finally said, "all I'll find is that we match."

He didn’t let her become a knight not only because of the coronation but because he was saving her a space in his own army. IN HIS OWN WAR COUNCIL. Its so interesting that she never thinks about joining Madoc in the books.

Even Taryn believed that she had found her place by her father but Jude never thought of it.

Like, in TCP, he has no fucking idea about the whole spy thing. Last time he saw Jude, she was dreaming of being a knight and getting bullied by the fairy kids at school. That is where he left her.

Then suddenly she has the crown?? And is able to choose who gets it? Oh, and she's immune to poison somehow???

Like I cannot emphasise how fucking left field this must have been. Madoc didn't even know Jude wanted to be a knight until like two weeks ago. He was able to confidently say that she wasn't a killer.

If he thought that either Jude or Taryn were gonna screw with his plans, he assumed that it would be through high school politics or getting into fights over which boy they like. They're like seventeen and, surprisingly for a blood-soaked monster who is several centuries old, Madoc actually does have fairly reasonable expectations of what teenagers are interested in.

He just was not expecting 'mithridatism', 'assassination' and 'political machinations' to be so prominent among Jude's interests.

So TWK happens and now she's the High King's Seneschal. Okay. And not only that, but he seems to be giving her more responsibility than you'd expect even from someone in such a prominent role. Alright.

And you can kind of see him trying to rationalise it. Like is this a crush? Did she strike a bargain at him during stargazing lessons when they were at school together? Are they fucking? Does he need to get Oriana to give Jude another 'safe sex with members of Elvish royalty' talk?

Nope. Turns out she's the actual power behind the throne. Again, somehow.

And then, within like a year, she's the fucking Queen. Madoc cannot rest. None of the books on raising the teenaged daughters of your murdered ex wife covered this eventuality. He is simultaneously proud and enraged.

Wasn't she playing board games and begging him to read to her like yesterday? Didn't he have to replace her pen because the bullies at school stole it? Her bedroom was full of stuffed animals.

I love that Jude isn't love-struck and following Cardan like a puppy. I am glad she's not constantly talking about how "hot" he is and she is not instantly in-love with him. She is her own person with ambition and is willing to actually do what it takes to get what she wants. She doesn't only think about it or have it suddenly handed to her, she acts on her desires and achieves them. Frequently getting hurt in some way in the process, too.

Cardan has genuine cruelty that he isn't afraid to lean into, genuine vulnerability and the ability to fully admit it without making excuses. He isn't physically domineering and built so big he can't fit in a doorway. He's a spoiled little pretty boy.

These two were backstabbing each other and pissing each other off constantly. They were taunting and threatening and angry. They were frustrated. They were disgusted. The hate between them was real and mutual.

The Folk of the Air trilogy isn't a one-sided 'MMC is shitty and abusive to the soft, loving FMC but he's really been a good guy all along and he's loved her since before she was even born and all the hate they felt was sexual attraction because of a mating bond created by the stars' story.

Cardan DID do nice things for Jude. ( change the lesson bc she couldn’t see, gave her salt when she was drugged on the every apple, save her form Valerian, not rat her our when she steals Balekin’s servant, gift her a dress for the coronation) BUT

ITS WRITTEN REALISTICLY

because Cardan is a genuine threat to Jude. Jude is not oblivious, those things just wont never ever be enough to change your opinion on someone who is actually dangerous to you.