I just realized that the first antagonist Kit and Nita faced together was a helicopter parent.
see, the thing about the young wizards series is
the thing about diane duane is
she infuses everything with so much life. she gives everything thoughts and feelings and personality. she makes you care about them, makes them matter. from grass chorusing “grow grow grow” to planets explaining how they show affection towards fellow celestial bodies by resonating
it’s beautiful, and it’s vital in the truest sense of the word. and I love it. it’s important on a level that I can’t even fully comprehend. it’s almost spiritual
I never thought of myself as a spiritual person, never felt moved by something larger than me. but the things I’ve read about in this series? the intention and compassion and wonder for all things
that’s something I can believe in
“But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?”
- Mark Twain
This is honestly my favorite quote. It’s changed how I look at life and religion.
(via the-bitchextraordinaire)
So this quote seemed very familiar when I saw it earlier, and I just realized why.
The power was burning in her tears, an odd hot feeling as she wept for Fred, for Kit’s Lotus, for everything horrible that had happened all that day- all the fair things skewed, all the beauty twisted by the dark Lone Power watching on his steed. If only there were some way he could be otherwise if he wanted to!
For here was his name, a long splendid flow of syllables in the Speech, wild and courageous in its own way- and it said that he had not always been so hostile; that he got tired sometimes of being wicked, but his pride and his fear of being ridiculed would never let him stop. Never, forever, said the symbol at the very end of his name, the closed circle that binds spells into an unbreakable cycle and indicates lives bound in the same way.
Kit was still reading. Nita turned her head in the nova moonlight and looked over her shoulder at the one who watched. His face was set, furious and bitter, but yes, weary too. He knew he was about to be cast out again, frustrated again, and he knew that because of what he had bound himself into being, he would never know fulfillment of any kind. Nita looked back down to the reading feeling sorry even for him, opened her mouth and along with Kit began to say his name-
Don’t be afraid to make corrections!
Whether the voice came from her memory or was a last whisper from the blinding new star far above, Nita never knew. But she knew what to do. While Kit was still on the first part of the name she pulled out her pen, her space pen that Fred had saved and changed, and clicked it open.
The metal still tingled against her skin, the ink at the point still glittered oddly- the same glitter as the ink with which the bright Book was written. Nita bent quickly over the book and, with he pen, in lines of light, drew from that final circle an arrow pointing upward, the way out, the symbol that change could happen- if, only if- and together they finished the Starsnuffer’s name in the Speech, said the new last syllable, made it real.
- So You Want to Be a Wizard, Diane Duane
So, in the history of all of the universe, who prays for the one sinner that needs it the most? Her name is Juanita Callahan, and at age 13 she has more mercy in her soul than I could ever hope to strive for.
(via professorsparklepants)
Never understood why I love black holes so much, there’s something about them that just pulls you in.
Rónán (anglicized Ronan) is an Irish language male given namemeaning “little seal” (Rón meaning “seal”, and -án being a diminutive suffix). It may refer to: Legend tells of a seal who is warned never to stray too close to the land.
Powers help me I didn’t know his name meANT PRECIOUS BABBY SEAL
AAAAAAAHHHH
AAAAAHH
RONAN SO CUTE
AND THE WINGED DEFENDER WAS STUCK INTO BABY SEAL BOY
2) Nita Callahan
Favorite quote: “Wow, who sold you that one? I think I’ll go ennoble a couple waffles.” (And basically all of books 6 and 9 where she saves the day)
Nita is my favorite book heroine ever. From the very beginning, I related to her completely for her love of reading and learning, and for being made fun of for it. She is one of the most relatable characters I’ve ever come across. She’s young, but seems so much older- whether because of the wizardry and the responsibility that comes along with it, or because everyone always feels like they’re more mature than the world thinks they are. She shows us that you don’t have to be a respected adult to change (or to save) the world. She’s insecure, selfish, moody (like when she snaps at Kit for no reason), but she also can admit when she’s messed up and learns from her mistakes. She considers giving up wizardry and her best friend to save her mother. She almost goes through with sacrificing herself to save the world (even though she wasn’t too happy about it when she first found out that’s what she got herself into) when she was what, 12/13? She’s quick in a crisis, and very smart. In A Wizard Alone, she taught me so much about grieving, and I wished those books had been there for me when my own mom passed away (though I was probably a bit too young then). Not to mention that in A Wizard Alone she singlehandedly saves the day, using what the Lone Power tried to use to bring her down to bring It down, and save Darryl and Kit. She also nearly singlehandedly saves the day in A Wizard of Mars, not letting her jealousy or anger get in the way of what needed to be done, while also being rather bad ass about it. Nita taught me that it’s okay to be angry- you can use it to your advantage. She helped to teach me that what people think of you doesn’t matter. The people who made fun of/beat up Nita didn’t know that she helped save their lives more than once, and she never let them color her view of humanity. She never once doubted that their lives weren’t worth saving, despite how they treated her. She showed me that being a good sister doesn’t mean you can’t fight and tease each other sometimes. She went from being very dependent on Kit- always giving her power to him, helping him rather than the other way around- to being a very good, independent wizard who stands on her own and stands tall.
from The Memory Palace, by Nate DiMeo
A personal temporospatial claudication for Young Wizards fandom-related posts and general space nonsense.
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