in that last dance of chances

rip to all the “fuckyeah___” blogs that carried our society at one point </3

the smallest artist i listen to? probably the bird outside my window

the smallest artist i listen to? probably the bird outside my window

the smallest artist i listen to? probably the bird outside my window

bastard prince

girls don’t want boys, girls want fool’s errand chapter five the tawny man

im tired of online discourse. look at this family of quails

Elayne's time in the circus learning the actual practice behind all the theoretical queen qualities she's been taught was probably the most pivotal aspect of her succeeding in taking the throne. One huge theme Jordan likes to play with using his leaders is the gap between a person who knows how to do something and a person who has done something. Have you ever had a boss who couldn't do your job, but thought they could? Sucked ass, right? Same applies to a monarch.

The circus arc, made more potent by Tanchico before it, was an extended sequence that forced Elayne to reckon tangibly with everything she didn't know how to do, try to learn those things, and accept what she couldn't learn. She was surrounded by people with very specific, hard-to-learn skills that she had to watch others respect or be impressed by, and for the first time in her life, those skills were not centered around the acquisition or exercise of power.

(late addition edit) The mastery of tightrope walking, and the fact that as time goes on, she relies less and less on channeling to do it, is also a major factor here. She masters a very physical skill that forces you to be very in tune with your body. Once you do that, you can never again disrespect others who have done the same. It does double duty as an actual lesson for her and a great metaphor for how she sees herself as above others and has to slowly teach herself how to actually keep herself above others using only her own innate power.

To put it really simply, Elayne learned deep, to-the-marrow humility for the first time from the circus arc. There's "being humiliated", which happened plenty before that, but the circus arc taught how to be humble. Being humiliated doesn't make you humble; respecting others' expertise does. She and Nynaeve both go through this similar curve where they're forced to recognize people like Thom/Bayle/Juilin, Luca, and the circus performers as unique agents who have skills beyond their own. That's step one; step two is that they accept that and actively seek those people's help when it's relevant.

Now, of course, calling Elayne "humble" at any point in the series is... uh... not correct. But from this point on, she's actually constantly aware of the fact that there are people in the world who are good at things she'll never even begin to approach. She always knew there'd be stronger channelers or fighters and more knowledgeable politicians, but she didn't understand how to respect the skill of someone who can, say, tame an animal. After the circus arc, she does understand that, and without that understanding, she would never have been able to spread her power base widely enough to succeed in the succession.

When Elayne asks someone to come to her aid or back her, they can see in her eyes that she's asking them because she understands that she is not wholly better than they are. They can see that she's not trying to put another body behind herself for the numbers; she picked them because they have assets, skills, knowledge, or connections that she doesn't, and she respects that difference. It's a completely qualitative difference that's entirely subtextual, but it's there.

The King and Queen of the Six Duchies

prints available here!

Im like if an unemployed person had a job

I'm on Assassin's Quest... this is what it's all been for

i support mpreg but more importantly i support mabortion

its like you dont even want to sell your life to a corporation