Cardan - Blog Posts
cardan and jude ♔
idk if i like this but whatever
this will also be available to buy on my inprnt so stay tuned 🫶🏻
(based on dolce&gabbana 2006 fall/winter collection cover by Steven Meisel)
characters by Holly Black
Ok, you know what scene I still can't recover from?
Locke: Remember when I kissed Jude in the garden?
Cardan: I recall your mouth was on her. But her eyes were on me.
LIKE, woah. The possessiveness practically DRIPPING from his tone. Yes I know that we didn't hear hear it. But let's be honest, we all heard it loud and clear
I just saw a reel that says "so Jude just played Kiss, Marry Kill with Cardan's friend group".
You know who else she played that game with? Cardan.
She kissed him, married him and then eventually, kinda kinda, killed him.
So my point here is, Jude is our queen and no body touches her without having to plow us weeds out 1st
She's a 10 but she ingests poison daily to become immune so obviously she's an 11
We all have headcanoned Cardan as this big ball of fluff and yet sometimes, I remember that one scene in Queen of Nothing when Randaline dared imply that Jude should stepped down from the monarchy because she was mortal and Cardan just grabbed him, dragged him to another room, said something to him and dude came out shaking and apologising. I SOMETIMES FORGET HE IS A MEAN CAT LMFAO.
The second half
🤴🏻 + 🤜🏻👑 🤛🏻= 🐍
You guys ever think about how Cardan was so so "cruel" to Jude?
And why? All his life, baby only got "affection", admiration and attention only when he acts cruel, as seen the memory globe thingie.
And he‐ he knows that's how to get "LOVE"?? So like, the whole while he was cruel, really he just wanted attention? He just expected Jude to be happy about it like Asha was?? Baby Cardan really just chose the only "love language" he knee to try and impress the girl of his literal dreams?
And she still didn't seem to like him? What the hell?
Or are you actually sane?
Holly really just picked 2 attempts at murder and declared them flirting and I am not over it to this day.
Ngl tho, "hot" will also be my 1st thought if someone like Jude, fkn JUDE DUARTE (ehum), would hold a knife to my throat, but yea-
Though I would prefer not to drown........bye-
🤌🏻
“It’s you I love. I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours.”
Holly Black - Cardan Greenbriar, The Queen of Nothing.
This part
Unique(obviously) . Excruciating(imagine him in constant 'pain' cuz he knows she hates him and he knows she isnt his and probably wont be) Alarming(imagine him alarmed everytime he sees her because hes just hit with how beautiful she is and how much unlike him and loved) Distressing(imagine him panicking because yup, he loves her, but she never will)
Sometimes I just think of when Cardan is telling Jude about the whole thing where her exile was just a scheme or whatever, I think of how Cardan just wanted Jude to be proud of him, proud because he fooled everyone, just like she does. I think about it and break just a little bit more, because that's how he would have made Baelkin proud, by doing what his brother would have done, so he just assumed to make Jude proud he had to do what she does. Our baby High King was just so desperate for love and validation, indeed.
Fuck Romeo and Juliet I want what these bitches have
(PS: art's not mine. Got it off Google. Contact me if it's yours and you want it down or to be tagged)
I have PMed the artist and am waiting on a reply
Friendly Reminder
"And the next thing we know the High King is on our doorstep looking ready to tear down the whole apartment complex to find you!!"
(Pardon me for inaccuracies)
So like, what. I wanna know exactly what happened. Honestly when I read I squealed and then the first coherent thought was "Wait. What did he wear?" And then "What did he do? Did he go alone? Did anyone from the Court of Shadows go along? What EXACTLY did Cardan say?"
Like, imagine Vivi just sipping coffee and Oak out playing with the kids while Taryn just does whatever idec, and the suddenly they hear a knock (idt Cardan knows the doorbells that well) and then Vivi opens the door and BOOM. Cardan. In his full glory. Like, did he try to look the best he could to go down to his wife's family home and win her back? Imagine his finest and most ridiculous clothing, lined with gold embroidery and what not, with his makeup impeccable. Or was he in too much of a hurry? To just, get her back. Because where fuck is she? And why did MADOC, of all people, come to get her? Was she so mad that she switched sides? Or did he realize the truth that Madoc didn't know it was Jude? Or did Cardan not dare to believe that to be true because it'd break his heart if it wasn't?
At this point I'm just rambling. I'm sorry.
But then, like, also imagine Taryn comes up behind Vivi asking who it is and just for a slight second Cardan gets super hopeful thinking it's Jude but then there he sees Taryn and he's just like, bitch, this is enough. And THAT MOMENT, my friends, was in which he lost it and then proceeded to give Vivi the impression that he was gonna tear down the apparent complex looking for his High Queen.
I'm sorry. I really will stop.
What if he wore some sort of mortal clothes. Like, imagine Cardan in sweats and a hoodie. Or, like, a 3 piece suit. But for some reason I just can't accept that he'd ever wear a Tshirt with Jeans. Idk why.
Ok bye-
THE FACT THAT
In this scene he was so sure she hated him and his guts to no extent. And then the scene proceeds off to her with her knife on his throat. I can't-
(Art's not mine. Idk whose. Tell me if it's yours and you want it taken down. I 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 be sad tho)
No, but can we talk about the part where Cardan says Jude has been frequenting in his dreams, and more accurately nightmares?
All I can think about is Cardan having nightmares where Jude is rejecting his love just like everyone in his life had.
Okay, no, but are Jude and Vivi actually watching Yuri! On the Ice at the end of Wicked King?
So long as I don't die from it, I'll be harder to kill.
The Cruel Prince, TFOTA, Holly Black
Our queen sheathed her sword and closed her eyes, And said, “I thought the snake would be of larger size.”
The Queen of Nothing, TFOTA, Holly Black
I feel like a constellation of wounds, held together with string and stubbornness.
The Queen of Nothing, TFOTA, Holly Black
I just finished The Queen Of Nothing..
I already miss them so much.
It was a wonderful series that I read faster then I have any story in a long time. I read Cruel Prince immediately and waited for Queen Of Nothing to come out so I could read Wicked King and Queen of Nothing back to back.
Jude was a charcter unlike any other that I have read before. Her and Cardan’s relationship make me laugh, smile, and cry many times.
Reading those books kinda felt like going on a rollercoaster ride. So many ups and downs, schemes, and betrayals. I don’t know if I will enjoy a book as much ever agian.
Props to Holly Black for writing a great series and one that I will reread many times over. I know I will miss these charcters deeply.
Jude and Fand
Ok, so one thing that I really want to talk about is Fand from TFOTA and her relationship with Jude.
Many of you probably don't remember who she is, and I don't blame you for that, but we should definitely remember her.
Fand was a faerie who, while not friends with Jude, was friendly to Jude. She let Jude compete on her team in the Summer Tournament, too, and was made head of Jude's personal guard when Jude was High Queen, when it was very dangerous for Jude to trust any faerie.
Do you know how big this is? All of it? For a human in Faerie, especially in Jude's position, both when she was Madoc's ward and then High Queen?
It's a literal message that Jude and Taryn are struggling to fit in with a world that doesn't want them, that everyone hates them. We see so many instances of them being abused. Not one faerie is nice to them-
Except Fand.
For the only faerie to be nice to Jude, (apart from Madoc, and he's not the type of nice I'm talking about here) Fand is barely mentioned, which is a little surprising.
And it's sad, because Fand could be a part of why Jude wanted to stay on in Faerie-she could be used to tell us how not all faeries are bad (Cardan does not count here).
I just really hope that we see more of Jude and Fand's relationship in Holly Black's upcoming novel.
Cardan and Percy thoughts
Thinking about how Cardan and Percy both struggled all their life because of a prophecy.
Thinking about how so many people thought that Cardan and Percy would do something horrible because of the prophecy.
Thinking about how they were neglected and abused because of their prophecies.
Thinking about how they actually did something amazing instead and proved everyone else wrong.
I mean Percy is obviously way better than Cardan to me (he didn't take out his trauma on others for one) but honestly, they're both so similar in this way.
what would you change about jurdan in canon to like the ship more
Well, I would make Cardan apologise and I'd make them have an actual discussion about what he did to her in TCP instead of just forgetting so soon and moving on.
It's just, rereading the Cruel Prince and seeing all of his horrific abuse of her, even if he had his reasons, was absolutely horrible.
I mean, yes, he did try to help her, but he still threw her into the river. He still watched as they made her strip and do degrading stuff. He still threatened her at the tournament. That kind of thing has effects on people. Bad effects.
Let him place his reasons in front of her, let her acknowledge this but also tell him that he hurt her badly, let him plead and grovel with her and realise that he really did fuck up even if he had his reasons and tried to save her.
Not discussing your toxic past isn't really a good thing. Couples need to clear the air, not just brush it under the carpet.
I'd make her say that they have to work on their relationship and let her forgive him over time, not all at once.
It's fictional, so it's not that bad to ship them because they're supposed to be a dark romance. But the way they turned from dark romance to perfectly ok couple at the end really made me raise my eyebrows.
Cardan Greenbriar with people other than Jude, please
Ok, people, does ANYONE in the TFOTA fandom want more of Cardan Greenbriar on his own?
Because most of the content I see with him is always linked to Jude somehow, and it's getting frustrating. This guy is his own person outside of Jude, yet no one seems to think about that. They just woobify him and reduce him to this himbo character.
What about his platonic relationships? I mean, I know he had an effed up relationship with Locke and Nicasia, but what about with Valerian (his thoughts on Valerian in general? Valerian lore?)
Or Vivienne? Or Taryn? Or his sisters or father or mother?
Or even Cardan with the court of Shadows. The Ghost, the Bomb and the Roach. Without Jude.
Or just on his own. Seriously, Cardan is an entertaining asshole who can be regal and intimidating-
and no one takes advantage of that. He's always dumbed down and placed with Jude. It's always Jude, Jude Jude with him and there's a certain point where it gets too repetitive.
Please make more of Cardan Greenbriar without Jude. I promise you that it is possible.
Cardan really said “would u still love me if I was a worm🥺”