tamat9

© Wilhelm von Gloeden

A prince with his counsellors and at prayer (English, 1490s) — British Library, Royal MS 16 F II, f 210

This frontispiece miniature can be found on Henry VII’s copy of Le livre dit grace entiere sur le fait du gouuernement dun prince, a 14th century French manual on princely education. It features a prince under a canopy of state, gravely reading a scroll in the company of older counsellors and a white greyhound. In the background, the prince kneels before an altar and attends a mass with two priests and a third man. The scene is framed by a gold border decorated with birds and foliage, as well as the ostrich feather and “ic dene” (“ich dien”) motto of the Prince of Wales, and two Tudor roses — one supported by Henry VII’s white greyhound and red dragon badges — coloured quarterly. The treatise opens with the lines:

En l’an de septante et trente ce Tenans quatorze cens de sente, Ung prince de royal noblesse, Qui en age de jeunesse Est grant et excellent seigneur, Ordonné a estre greigneur Par succession naturelle.

In the year seventy plus thirty Within the trail of fourteen hundred, A prince of royal blood Who already in his youth Is a great and excellent lord And will surely become even greater As he naturally matures.

The miniature depicts a prince who has reached maturity, ready for schooling in political conduct. The preamble of the manuscript states that it was composed in 1500 on orders from “a crown prince of high merit”, which could only be Henry VII’s eldest son and heir, Arthur. The inclusion of the Prince of Wales’ badge and motto may have been intended to encourage Arthur to look upon the treatise as his vade mecum — his very own manual — upon which he could project his thoughts toward dynastic history as he browsed through love poems and bantering disquisitions on love. By reading between the lines, he would be able to infer historical parallels and figurative meanings which would guide him in his future rule.

I was tagged by the lovely sweetbutterbliss and velificantes! Sorry for the delay. Warning: this is ginna be long.

FAVOURITE TROPES

            Alternate Universe - I just love them, especially:

➴ Dystopian AU - Fic rec: Inception WWIII AU: Fischers rule the world, zombies are everywhere, Eames’s the leader of resistence, Arthur (a supposed) traitor: aimlesstravels: A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall

➴ Crime AU -   Fic rec: one of my absolute favourites, excellent and dark Detective!Eames and Assassin! Arthur  thriller  Black Mamba, dendroaspis polylepis by grizzly_bear_bane

➴ Historical AU - placing my favourite characters elsewhere on the timeline satisfies my inner history geek. Fic recs: Ancient Rome Inception AU, enthralling turmoil or angst and erotic tension: Concubinus or  A/B/O renaissance fantasy His Darling, Among Lilies and Roses by grizzly_bear_bane,the notorious Patience, a Steady Hand by Helenish, the adventurous TDKR Robin Hood AU Adveniat Regnum Tuum by anon, awesome AU in which Eames is a marquis and Arthur is a servant in decadent 18th century France: Where angels fear to tread by redluna or 1950s geisha!Arthur AU Etymology by Sibilant. and so on…

➴ Horror AU - anything with the right creepy feel makes a horror fan happy (Fic rec: a hrilling Inception x Sixth Sense AU. Arthur is Cole,  grown up now. The ghosts never stopped coming to him but they never appear in dreams The Boy Who Spoke With Ghosts by AvocadoLove)

➴ Role Reversal AU - fic rec: a charming and playful TDKR AU with Bane as the Dark Knight, Blake’s the master thief that he never seems to capture, Snippet (Perestroika) by Sibilant… or an Inception AU with Mal as an extractor and Dom as a shade In Medias Res by Starlingthefool

➴ Sci-fi AU- I just love sci-fi in all variations. The perfect example is a dark sci-fi TDKR AU Rectifier (Shuffling the Cards) by grizzly_bear_bane

and  …hell yes to ➴ Pretty Woman AU: Paper Things by snookiescookies and other 80000000 AUs I can’t think of now… 

Crack/ Humor/ Snark - there is nothing better than a fic that  makes me laugh so hard you almost choke, just like: Blake’s Corollary by pagination - the best snarky thing ever.

BanexBlake and ArthurxEames doing naughty  things (could also be BanexBarsadxBlake and I’ve even read a great EamesxArthurxEames one… and also Bane/Blake/Mal one! ;)) Does that count as a trope? Okay, it is probably called: Coitus ensues. Basically all the smut and kinks you can give me, no matter if it’s a part of a sophisticated multi-dimensional or just in a simple one-shot story… E.g. Reread or Marked by rageprufrock or anything by cherrybina or by irresistably kinky the_ragnarok. But there are too many that I love, fic recs would requite a special list. 

Angst  - give me all the angst. Fic rec: one of the angstiest and most compelling fics I know gang AU series Cigar Box by Grizzly or Leverage verse by Whisky (get a box of tissues and a bottle of gin/someone to cuddle you after reading these).

Crossover - they are always fun! Fic recs: Inception x TDKR AU with delicious Arthur x Bane (yes!) smut: Gattino followed by Darling by sweetbutterbliss or Ashes to Ashes by Schizzar in which Arthur gets sick of dreamshare and goes back home to Gotham as John (and more…)

Slow burn - allways, forever and ever. Fic rec. Inception fic incorporating my other fav. D/S and Dystopian AU tropes: Still Ill by Miku or TDKR story in which Blake goes undercoved as a priest and engages in a certain deal with Bane  Stigmata by underwater_owl

Well developed original characters Example: a beautiful portrait of TDKR’s Jim Gorden: Family Ties by pagination

Fics that read like poems - for example beautiful Bravely, patiently by hungerandterritory or my first fanfic ever which got me into reading them and into fandom thing  Presque Vu by rageprufrock. Recently also immensely poetic selkie!Arthur AU Even lovers drown by velificatio with irresistible Artthur x Eames x Saito.

Adrenalin/ The Clock is Ticking - Fic rec again fusing more of my fav. tropes, like Historical AU and Hurt/Comfort: Watching Stars Without You by grizzly

Survival in an unfamiliar/ extreme environment - Fic rec: one of the best TDKR fics ever: Stiffen the Sinews (Summon Up the Blood) by Whisky in which young John ended up in the Pit and found an unlikely protector in Bane. Slow burn ensues.

Dark fic -  there are days when I just savour all the misery and darkness and cry for my favourite characters (or, as someone said, refine my sadistic tendencies). Fic recs: one of the most compellingTDKR fics, brutally unromanticised Where There’s Life by pagination, a heartbreaking Inception fic We Can Replace You by recrudescence, daring TDKR one-shot All Hope Is Lost by depthsofmysol or the hardcorest of TDKR hardcore but (mind the warnings) beautifully written The Art of Breaking by akelios

Hurt/Comfort - I find fics dealing realistically with hurt and comfort especially moving and love to cry for/ with my darlings. Examples of well written fics with many other qualities beside perfect h/c parts could be  Shades of Gray by OneWhoSitsWithTurtles

         So, Generally:

and

I’ll read pretty much anything written by any of my favourite writers or recommended although there are some

NONO TROPES

Implied misogyny/ any racial/ gender hatred- implied or pronounced in some way leave me upset, with a nasty feeling on my tongue.

Extensive wimpification of a BAMF original character - that said I do not see  a breakdown under hard circumstances or crying a wimpification, that is normal and human. I do not like seing a strong independent character casted into a role of a clingy sad sack.

Unrealistic sex - unless it is an intentional part of a bright new AU (A/B/O fics) such scenes are amusing only to a certain degree and can be harmful if read by unexperienced person.

Mary Sue/ Marty Stu  - boooring 

Real person fic that involves sex scenes - i can’t bring myself to read these. It feels too much like invading someone’s privacy.

De-ageing - just nah, sorry sorry, I like babies but…

Aliens Made Them Do It  - while I mostly enjoy fics with Deus Sex Machina trope (inserting sex where it would otherwise be implausible), this way of makes me cringe.

Everything is Happy and Everyone Learned a Lesson (copying the trope from Sweetbutterbliss because yes) - boooring