If you are in any way confused or lost about the Of Roses Unfurling timeline (especially when it comes to the Barmakids’ backstory), it’s ok. So am I.
If I’ve learned anything from this, it is to be less bitchy at novelists and showrunners and whatnot if/when they write a massive, massive, enormous work that spans decades and dozens of characters, and then fuck something up. Give them a break, guys. They’re dealing with a *massive* sprawling entity right there, and even their own ‘verse bibles (I have two or three, split onto my mobile and computer) can be one hell of a patchwork mess.
This brought to you by your good author, who still isn’t quite sure if Jaffar and Fadl *really* were just seventeen and eighteen years old when The Harun Fiasco happened (when Harun had most of the Barmakids killed and Jaffar and Fadl took over the Caliphate, running it through puppet rulers, and when Fadl ran away heartbroken because Jaffar refused to renew their incestuous relationship and his whole family had been killed and he had no one left). Especially as she’s written them as having had toddler-age children then. *headdesk* Everyone *did* get married really young in the Middle Ages, though, and you could be a grandparent at 25, so I guess I did go by that. ETA: Oh shitfuck! And then I'm having Jaffar/Fadl having hot fucking drag sex around 15-16-17 in The Tartness of Pomegranates, and it's explicitly because Yahya hasn't allowed them to marry or to even fuck any slave girls yet, to take down their pent-up horny teenager pressure! *moans into desk from underneath her hair* Just, fucking, IDK, *handwave* wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
Another ridiculous headcanon that’s not made it into the story yet: you know how Linda Darnell’s head was strangely flat at the top? Well, now that she’s established in my mind as Latifa, THAT explains Yassamin’s Princess Horns hairdo, particularly the huge doodle versions of the horns! She’s trying to avoid letting anyone see the flat head that runs in the family!
…yes. I know. That is quite the most ridiculous headcanon ever, but still.
Other headcanons/now Roses canons I am writing down into my bible from various bits in the stories and from my Tumblr doodle/OC prompt post tags(!):
-Jaffar started executing all those traitors because he needed their blood and skulls and shit as fuel for his black magic rituals–originally to bring back his dead wife (Fatima in this one, not Abbasa) and child who died in childbirth when he was 17 (this is the most tragic backstory ever and also THIS WOULD BE SO FUCKING JAFFAR)
-Salsabil wears her hair in five plaits. Not six or seven. Five. It is a Thing.
-Fadl had tons of those Turkish archers (ghilman), the hot gay ninja guys in his service
-I ship Yahya/Khayzuran (Harun’s mother) but I still haven’t had a chance to put this into fic
-Fadl, FADL was responsible for that idiotic thing that caused shit to hit the fan and for Harun to end up killing all the Barmakids: when Yahya decided to lock up all the harem doors, effectively keeping the batshit queen Zubayda and all the other 1000+ women prisoner (and this caused Zubayda to urge Harun into overthrowing the Barmakids even harder). It was FADL who suggested he do that because HE was jealous of the woman he was in love with, who was one of those singer-courtesan-epic-HBIC rockstar ladies of the time who fucked whomever they willed. So, basically, if you thought Fadl was a douche before, I have made it so that his douchiness was the downfall not only of his own stupid arse, but that of his ENTIRE FAMILY. I don’t quite know why he ended up telling me all that, but… whew, fucking hell. I swear I didn’t *intend* to foist it all on Fadl–it’s thanks to Harun having being a batshit cunt and Zubayda having been the same that the Barmakid massacre happened anyway; they just needed an excuse–so I guess he needs many more therapeutic bummings before he can let go of that.
-Why do I feel sorry for Fadl? WHY? He is *such* a bastard, but he is such an *entertaining* bastard, dammit.
