Awtwb - Tumblr Posts
my main takeaway from the Simon Snow series
You Are Not Broken.
Simon grew up in care with no one that really cared about him. No one coddled him, no one fussed over him when he didn't feel well, and he felt like the most insignificant nobody in all of England.
And then this cool guy that has a sword and can do magic (whoa!) sweeps in and tells him that he's the most important and powerful somebody to ever exist and sweeps his entire world out from under him.
When we get his POVs, the mage spends the entire book telling us he has to fix Simon. That Simon is broken because he can't harness his power (which I did a tiny essay on here if you're interested). That Simon is so broken and shattered that he is unfixable.
From a boy with nothing to "Let the greatest power of powers reign, and may it save us all" and then back to a boy with nothing. His magic was what connected him to that beautiful world of worthiness and just as quickly as he was whisked into it, he was cast out. After being told by his mentor that he was unfixably broken.
That's... devastating.
and even more devastatingly, he believed it.
He believed it so much that started self-sabotaging every other good thing in his life because one horrible manipulative person told him he was broken.
and he believed it for over a year.
Which is why Simon and Baz meeting Lady Salisbury was so important.
She had a son who barely had any magic. And even though he didn't have magic, he didn't have that crucial connection to his mother's world that was coveted above everything else, she loved him anyway. She loves him so so much. and then, her son with some magic became her son with no magic at all. And she still cried with joy over his return when he came back to her.
Because love doesn't care about a silly thing like magic. Love is the greater magic, and it always is, and always will be.
He didn't have any magic to give, because he gave it all away. But he had love. He has more love in him than any other character in that series, except for maybe Ruth. He loves his school. He loves his friends. He loves his world of mages, even if it hurts too much to be a big part of it. He loves his mentor, and the silly goats that everyone overlooked, and even his evil, scorned roommate. Maybe the scorned roommate most of all. Simon never had a shortage of love to give.
And meeting Ruth and his real family was finally able to prove to him that the love he held close and carried around his whole life was finally enough. Better yet, it had always been enough, even though he was the last to see it.
Your love is enough. The love and goodness you put out into this world is enough. And you are worthy of love in return. Always. No exceptions. You are not broken. You are human, and humans are immovable and unshatterable. Your love is your magic, and you are worthy.
This post is for you. Never let them tell you you're not magic.
COC Day 01 ▪︎ The End
Said it before but it bears repeating: by the time Simon explicitly says “Baz could have anyone he wants” it’s not nearly the first time he’s expressing he feels this way, even if he doesn’t realize it.
In CO, when he’s still trying to convince himself (because he is actively trying to convince himself) that he wants the comphet endgame, and he’s jealous because Baz is apparently going after Agatha, it’s never once “of course Agatha attracts attention, look at her, who wouldn’t want her?” Never! It should be, if he ever wanted her like that, and yet. The one time he’s trying to tell himself he wants her, he gives an example that’s not about actually wanting her romantically or being into her, but about projecting things into her beauty (strength and protection!) and about imagining himself in her shoes (imagining how it is to be that beautiful, etc). Instead, attraction and romantic desire is always about Baz. “Of course she would want Baz, who wouldn’t? Look at him. Just Baz being himself is enough to make him attractive and romantically desirable” …. It’s one of the many early signs that Simon is already into Baz long before CO starts, that his romantic jealousy is only about him (and always has been) and he wasn’t into Agatha at any point (comphet)
2022 vs 2024
I literally finished AWTWB today so I figured it was time to post these guys, Baz served as my bookmark during all my reading. Thank you Simon, thank you Baz.
Just finished any way the wind blows I can’t get over how good it was I fuck all the haters it was so so so good WAY better than I expected
I think one of the funniest things in awtwb is Baz realising he’s wearing Agatha’s old sweater that simon took when the two of them were dating, like?? This situation is just so absurd I feel like Simon hardly have any clothes really belonging to him, he just picks up other people’s stuff and keep them
Alright request time.
I’m bored, I will draw anything Simon snow related lessgo plz