Smurlse

"This is like saying female-owned businesses mean nothing because J.K Rowling is a businesswoman". Incredibly, that's exactly what I'm saying. I applaud this critique for correctly identifying how my stance might be applied elsewhere.

But what I would ask is this: do you not remember how JKR (being a successful female author and businesswoman) was lauded as a feminist hero during the peak of the books' success which allowed her to make a large part of modern feminism incredibly TERF-y because of her influence? Because I think we should all do well to remember that.

Interestingly, this critique then goes on to make my entire point for me, albeit maybe slightly more charitably than I. It goes on to say "queer people are not a monolith" and that we should inform ourselves as to who owns these businesses. Yes! Yes! This is my point! Relying purely on identity politics to judge whether businesses (and people) are good or not is bad!

It closes out by saying big corps "don't count" when talking about queer-owned businesses. Honestly? Yeah, I agree. Most of the time, people are talking about small queer-owned businesses. That is because this post is a joke. I have applied the label of "queer-owned business" to some businesses the label is not usually applied to to point out the limits of identity politics in business.

They really said:

😐🤝😄

😐🤝🙂

🫤 😔

🥺 🥺

🙂‍↔️ 😔🤚

Halt: Well, I like my men like I like my coffee, tall, sweet, and weak.

Now I'm just picturing Halt wrapping his arms around Cropper's neck and burying his face in his mane and crying softly because Crowley's gone. And for the first time Halt actually hears Cropper.

Halt's age: In book 8 Halt says that he was 16 when Ferris tried to poison him (we don't know how far into 16 he was at the time). It was 6 months later when he tried to drop tiles on Halt, then a year later when Ferris tried to drown him. That means that Halt was at least 17½ when he left home. Then he was apprentices to Pritchard for 3 years. After Pritchard left we're not sure how much time passed until Halt reached Araluen. But suffice it to say, he's somewhere between 20½ and 21 when he meets Crowley.

Crowley's age: In TEY2 it's stated that apprentices typically start training at 15 and train for 5 years. By the time he has his silver oak leaf Crowley would logically be approximately 20. Then after the 3 years Pritchard was away, he would be 23. That places Crowley as somewhere between 23 and 24 when he meets Halt.

Crowley and Halt's age gap would therefore be between 2.5 - 3.5 years.

Gilan's age: is stated to be 12 years old when he meets Halt. Halt would likely be closer to 21 by the time the events of the first book and much if the second book have passed.

This would put Gilan as 9 years younger than Halt.

That leaves 2 possible explanations:

1) Halt was an apprentice as a prince and left due to the "unpleasantness" of the assassination attempts (I put less stock in this because him becoming an apprentice as crown prince seems less likely to go unnoticed)

Or

2) Given that in book 8 it is established that Ferris sent people to hunt Halt after he had left home, I find it more likely that this is the "unpleasantness" that caused him to finally leave Hibernia. The way he states in The Hibernian that Pritchard "took [him] under his wing" and trained him left me with the distinct impression that Pritchard became Halt's mentor after he had run away from home. As a ranger he would have been well equipped to help Halt evade his brother and stay safe for a period of time in Clonmel or elsewhere in Hibernia. I personally find this to be the most likely scenario but maybe that's just me.

Halt's age: In book 8 Halt says that he was 16 when Ferris tried to poison him (we don't know how far into 16 he was at the time). It was 6 months later when he tried to drop tiles on Halt, then a year later when Ferris tried to drown him. That means that Halt was at least 17½ when he left home. Then he was apprentices to Pritchard for 3 years. After Pritchard left we're not sure how much time passed until Halt reached Araluen. But suffice it to say, he's somewhere between 20½ and 21 when he meets Crowley.

Crowley's age: In TEY2 it's stated that apprentices typically start training at 15 and train for 5 years. By the time he has his silver oak leaf Crowley would logically be approximately 20. Then after the 3 years Pritchard was away, he would be 23. That places Crowley as somewhere between 23 and 24 when he meets Halt.

Crowley and Halt's age gap would therefore be between 2.5 - 3.5 years.

Gilan's age: is stated to be 12 years old when he meets Halt. Halt would likely be closer to 21 by the time the events of the first book and much if the second book have passed.

This would put Gilan as 9 years younger than Halt.