The Wicked King - Blog Posts

jude duarte is my poor little meow meow. in my heart always. so cool. smash.

soooo, do we know if the fae can lie through song? I would think that no they can't, but then, their songs must be full of uncertainty so everyone can sing them and they can't sing a lot of human songs. or, they can, but that would open a whole other can of worms...

anyways yeah, is this a stupid question, did holly black answer it in any of the books or in other ways? please share your knowledge 🙏

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

It’s been exactly seven days today that i started The Cruel Prince and i’ve INHALED every single book in that established universe. I need to lie down.

Frothing at the mouth, sliding down walls, rattling the bars to my enclosure over Carden “Come be angry at a nearer distance” Greenbriar and Jude “If I let myself love you, I would burn up like a match” Duarte.

"Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?" — The Cruel Prince.

Honestly, this illustration brought out the worst in me.

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

you know what keeps me up at night is that like. Jude heard Cardan, a fae who cannot lie, say "i think about you often and i can't stop" and that bitch went "nah you know what? i don't believe you" and proceeded to require physical proof of his claim, in the form of kissing that mf straight on the mouth.

she is either denser than we ever thought when it comes to Cardan's attraction for her, or she was already in much deeper for him than she even knew.

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.

It is so embarrassingly blasphemous that there’s characters who think Jude loved Locke

Like when Cardan’s mom said Jude loved Locke at the trial, I went feral for her cause AS IFFFFFFFFF

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-

dude ;0;

when cardan is telling jude about his whole plan (once she comes back ‘as taryn’) about exiling her and it being all sneaky and he’s like “look i’m like you ! i did a sneaky thing just like you did ! you must be so proud of me !!” and she’s like What Is Wrong With You ?!

broke my silly little heart, it did ;0;

🤌🏻

“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.

YALLL guess who's running to ao3 after having read the folk of the air trilogy!?

Who wants to die slowly when you can die fast. Me. I don't want to die fast. I don't want to die at all.

The Queen Of Nothing, TFOTA, Holly Black

I am coming unraveled. I am coming undone.

The Cruel Prince, TFOTA, Holly Black

My dreams struggled to rival the horror of my actual life.

The Cruel Prince, TFOTA, Holly Black

You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing.

-The Cruel Prince, TFOTA, Holly Black

I have lied and I have betrayed and I have triumphed. If only there was someone to congratulate me.

-The Wicked King, TFOTA, Holly Black

Before, I never knew how far I would go. Now I believe I have the answer. I will go as far as there is to go. I will go way too far.

The Cruel Prince, TFOTA, Holly Black