#piak

Everytime the lute is even in Jussipos hands he’s rhyming couplets about Foldo. Half the time he doesn’t even know he’s doing it, he just can’t help thinking about Foldo.

Foldo and Piak get along great. Piak’s always asking him to tell stories. Jussipo gets jealous (Stop stealing my boyfriend!) while Foldo just smiles and tells him that he’s a kid and he needs these stories. 

Jussipo is always trying to teach Foldo how to play the lute. Foldo’s voice is kind of scratchy and he’s pretty self conscious about it. Jussipo thinks it’s absolutely adorable.

Folds always touching jussipo’s hair. Half the time he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. Foldo’ll be walking behind him and absently reach out to stroke it. Jussipo will turn around, but Foldo’s already looked away. Or they’ll be lying down and Foldo will hum and stroke Jussipo’s hair till both of them fall asleep. He just can’t help himself when it comes to those greasy black locks.

Whenever Foldo starts to tell a story Jussipo will strum the lute in time and make sound effects. (whoosh, bang, pow) It makes for a very colorful and sometimes eerie story. 

They’ve got nicknames for eachother. Jussipo calls him Fol, too lazy to say the rest of the name. Foldo calls him Sippo, it's what comes out when he’s talking fast anyway. Piak and Arman Poke fun at this. 

Somehow Iona knows. She’s always known, even before the boys did themselves. 

Foldo’s always humming. Like this man never stops, Jussipo thinks it’s adorable and will always start picking out chords in time with Foldo’s humming. 

I don’t know why I've been thinking about this one. Foldo can’t resist petting any animal he comes into contact with. He’s very kind to all animals. Jussipo loves to take him to any fairs just to watch his face light up as he pets the bunnies. 

Again, where did I get this? Jussipo loves to swim. Anytime they see any kind of body of water, Jussipo can't help putting his toes in the water or stripping off the outer clothes to swim. They have lots of picnic\swim dates because Foldo knows he loves to swim. 

Foldo loves to cook and has often cooked many breakfasts on sleepy mornings with Jussipo. He even cooks for Piak.

Piak is the last one to find out. We don’t know how because he’s always with them. 

Jussipo: You once pushed me down the stairs because I made fun of your height

Piak:

So the idea that Foldo and Jussipo only got to know each other during that one night in episode 6 made me sad so here is my wonderful collection of all canon evidence I can infer from to prove my point:

They’re both nobles. Nobles tend to know each other

Both of their families were on Viridian’s list of those that were going to pay, suggesting that they’re allies with similar views. Parents talk whilst they shove their children together

When all the novices are riding through the town, Foldo and Jussipo are riding next to each other. It could just be a coincidence but the only other characters that we know that are riding together are Tiuri and Iona (neither of them really know anyone so they didn’t care who they were with when riding) and Arman and his friend (if they’re riding together who’s to say that Jussipo and Foldo aren’t riding next to each other because they’re friends?)

Now, some direct quotes (at least from what I can remember). When they find Piak, Foldo says, “Your brother followed us all the way from Dagonaut?” How did he know that they were brothers? He might’ve heard Piak yelling about how Jussipo was his brother during the trials or guessed based on how they acted around each other, but I feel it’s more likely that he already knew them. This point is then backed up when Foldo’s arguing for Piak to stay and says, “He’s just a 10 year old boy,” to which Piak replies with, “I’m almost 11.” 1, he knew Piak’s age which heavily implies that he already knows him and 2, Piak doesn’t question how Foldo knew how old he was

And now we jump to episode 4 where they’re waiting to steal the horses and is, in my opinion, the scene with the most proof. Jussipo says, “Give us a story, Fol.” A bit to unpack there. This suggests that Jussipo knows that Foldo tells stories and is probably good at them, how else would he know if he hadn’t heard multiple? Then Jussipo calls him ‘Fol’. That’s a nickname that a friend would give you, not someone that’s known you for a few days. Notice that he doesn’t call the other novices by any shorter names. And then Arman is like, “What are we? 12?” so Foldo clearly hasn’t told a story on their quest to find Tiuri yet. And then Piak starts talking about how great Foldo’s stories are so how could Piak have heard them but not Arman if Foldo didn’t already know both Jussipo and Piak? 

And then there’s all the little things like often being near each other, looking at each other (sometimes for confirmation, showing that they care about the other’s opinion. I’m looking at you, episode 5, when Arman goes on about how the stuff with Tiuri and the letter is nonsense and then Foldo says that it does sound a bit ridiculous and Arman asks if they’re in agreement. Foldo and Jussipo look at each other as though they’re looking to the other for what to decide)

Piak is adorable and precious but that’s precisely why his death would’ve been so devastating. Jussipo’s death is devastating but, 1) in an infuriating way, for the audience, 2) not handled well considering most of the characters barely had an emotional reaction to it. If Piak had jumped in front of Jaro’s blade to protect Jussipo, then Jussipo would have to deal with the guilt of not protecting his little brother, Foldo would have to deal with knowing that he helped convince Jussipo to not send Piak back home in the first place, and the others would have to watch a young boy die for their cause.

this will be structured in three parts: what i liked, what i disliked, what could be improved. Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS

What I liked

Our main character, Tiuri, is the best protagonist. He has had a difficult background and has a little bit of an identity struggle, but through his journey he becomes more and more clear in how he defines himself. He is so sweet and kind and only wants to do the right thing.

That magic is established as a purely Eviellen thing (aka a part of the black culturof the show). It’s not alluded to, it’s merely a fact.

Diversity. I love Iona, our asian girl, Tiuri, our black boy, and Jussoldo, our resident gay couple. None of it felt forced nor was it villainsed. They simply were.

Queen Alianor being queen without any question. She inherited the throne from her father and it is hers. She was inquisitive and charming, and quite daring romantically.

The chase scene in that very clearly Lord of the Rings-type field. It was not only beautiful but thrilling.

Magic horse. Or, not really magic but a damn smart horse

Arman giving Tiuri his peptalk about how Tiuri is a good person and it doesn’t matter if he’s not the Chosen One, what matters is that he is a good person and actively does good deeds.

Jussipo and Foldo’s campfire talk and kiss, and the implication that they did not sleep at all but talked all throughout the night. Their faces with Piak woke up were hilarious.

Iona and Jaro’s relationship from “I fucking hate you” to “I still fucking hate you but fuck if anything happens to you I will feel guilty.” Very fun. It’s like if the Hound and Arya liked each other from the beginning.

What I disliked

Lavinia pt 1. She was interesting at first, but when they were establishing that her town is full of selfish people and people who will weasel their way for money, it just ruined her. She was so selfish, so money oriented, and just so opposite to Tiuri that it really irked me. Tbf she does improve the more she cares for Tiuri, but still.

Lavinia pt 2. I did not like that she was actually the Chosen One. It makes absolutely no sense for her to be the magical savior of prophecy; not when magic was established as purely Eviellen. There was no explanation as to how or why she has powers, unlike for Tiuri.

Bury your gays. This has been shouted from the roof tops in this fandom already, but wow was it truly an unnecessary death. Not only did a gay boy die, but Lavinia (who, in literally the episode before, used HEALING MAGIC to save Tiuri) did absolutely nothing to try and save him. She only watched as he died. -10/10.

The climactic face off between hero(es) and villain was SO FUCKING LAME. They are just staring at each other, using their “powers” but like???? LAMELY. It seemed like they were trying to mimic Aang vs Ozai’s final fight with the darkness and the light fighting, but my god was so so lame. The music, unfortunately, was not as strong in that moment either.

What could be improved

I think 6 episodes were not enough. There were too many things that were unexplained or needed time to develop. 8 episodes could have been ideal.

First, Iona’s betrayal. It felt like it came out of nowhere, or at least out of very petty spite. She decides to call up the authorities because, what? Arman forgot she was an orphan? Nah nah nah, I need more seeds to be sown to believe it. Sure there was what Jaro said to her after the avalanche, but even then she has the same level of “i hate all of you” as before their quest started. Instead we should have seen her get more and more fed up with the group, or feeling more like an outsider.

Second, what the hell did Viridian do to Alianor??? He turns her eyes black and we see absolutely nothing. The next we see her she’s completely fine? Um, no. Either 1. show us what conversation went down between him and her, or 2. give us a small clip of her alone where her eyes turn black again, to make it clear she’s still under his influence.

Third, Piak should have died instead of Jussipo. Tumblr user @thylovelylionheart wrote about this and I agree 100%. You can find it here. Not only does it make sense, but it also brings a clear flashback to when Jussipo/Piak said that their parents would kill Jussipo if Piak was hurt. Parallel that, not Jussipo’s lyric about their[Jussoldo’s] love being carried to the grave smh.

Tiuri should still have magic. Not only is he a shaman’s son, but his mother knew that he was destined for something large. In the last scene we see her in, standing up on the stands as Tiuri is knighted, she looks unhappy. Why? Also the bird flock??? it needs a bit more explaining.

Having more episodes would then invest us with Tiuri’s mother. Alianor said she would still protect her even after she went to the summit. But then we never see Tiuri’s mother in danger?? It would have brought more stakes to the journey, at least for the audience, to know that Tiuri’s last life line could be hurt, even if he didn’t know.

Heck, we could spend an episode with everyone separated again. Lavinia goes off to find her road. It would give us more time to settle for the idea of Lavinia being the Chosen One, since the reveal would still be ep 5. We could have her be alone and meet someone who, idk, shows her the light (haha). Think Toph and Iroh. She’s still selfish but cares for Tuiri, but is not wired to be a savior. So she gets help from, let’s say the Father Monk from the mountains, who helps her prioritise that even if she doesn’t want to save the world, saving one person [Tiuri] would be enough. And she turns up at the palace FOR Tiuri, not because she suddenly gained morals. it makes more sense in terms of how her character development played out.

The final episode should have been a final battle. That’s it.