The Thief - Tumblr Posts
So I’m re-reading The Thief.
A magus was a scholar. He read scrolls and books in every language and studied everything that had ever been written as well. If the king needed to know how many shafts of grain grew on a particular acre of land, the magus could tell him. If the king wanted to know how many farmers would starve if he burned an acre of that grain, the magus knew that, too. His knowledge, matched by his skill so persuasion, gave him the power to influence the king, and that made him a powerful figure at court. - Chapter 1
I had to put the book down for a minute.
Gen lived in the library. Gen studied all the books and reads/writes/speaks multiple languages fluently. Gen, even through book one of the series, was constantly taking notes and collating data about his enemies and their material assets. Gen - in the course of one lecture about seeds by an enthusiastic old man - worked out that a baron is underpaying his taxes. Gen uses persuasion and personality like a lever to move the world as he required it. Gen not only won the loyalty of Costis but all of Attolia and is respected and revered as a powerful figure at court.
Gen is his own Magus.
Won’t name names but I read kind of a disappointing political fantasy book and it has me pining for the BEST political fantasy books, Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series, naturally
I’ve halfway through The Queen’s Thief in part due to your sketches and my mutuals, could I request a sketch of someone from tqt? Maybe Gen?
BEST SERIES EVERRRRR. 🎉 I think I’ve only drawn Gen from later books, so I figured it was time for a sketch from The Thief?
Might I add my tips for old tumblr users:
1. read the queen's thief series by megan whalen turner
tips for new tumblr users:
1. read the queen’s thief series by megan whalen turner
This. Like the whiny side of him is real. He kept his personality and attitude, but not his identity. Which is interesting to me, because it means Sophos (as well as others) knows what he's like, the way he behaves, and all that. So when Sophos decides he likes him, he doesn't have to rethink that later, because he does know gen, he just didn't see all the signs.
And it let's the reader fall in love with him and get to the end and go "yup I love him"
one thing that i LOVE about the queen's thief series is that MWT really took the time to make sure that we all understand that the protagonist is a weird, whiny little shit. like, she could have said "oh gen was just PRETENDING to be whiny and insufferable in The Thief, he's actually cool and suave!!"
but no. she establishes that he's a genius who's been running a con the whole time, and ALSO he's whiny and insufferable.
OH MY GOD
A silly king of Attolia/the emperors new groove comic
I'm shocked that Gen won bc SoC has such a fanbase on Tumblr. But he absolutely deserved to win. The Thief by @meganwhalenturner is still one of the best books I've ever read. If you haven't read it, please do.
UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE C
Kaz Brekker Propaganda:
whenever the book switches to his narration hes always going "haha.. im so cool and smart and cool and cunning.. no one can outsmart me mahahah..." and then you switch to literally any other character (well. mostly inej) and they're pointing at him and laughing. stupid ass motherfucker who's too smart for his own good
Eugenides Propaganda:
the entire plot hinges on a detail he lets the reader (and every other character) assume is true. I don't want to spoil it because it's a really fun reveal but he is lying from the first second he appears on the page and you can't trust him to tell the full truth about ANYTHING related to himself and his goals. he mostly does it to keep his advantage and not have other characters be suspicious of him but it's just so fun when you realise he's been lying the whole time
Can someone explain to me that part in King of Attolia when someone says "that was revealing" and pheresine says "only to those who have eyes to see"
Like maybe I'm missing something, I'm not sure? Like is she just referring to the fact that most of the attolians aren't going to reevaluate the king no matter what info they get? Because honestly that's the best ive come up with. What exactly was revealing/revealed? Is it about their relationship??
you see horses are as likely to step on your foot as look at you. elephants on the other hand are noble, graceful animals
Was it maybe that the king and queen are obviously more close than everyone thought? Like she lets him get away with the hairpin thing? Is it because he's possessed by The Eudgenides but not everyone can see that?
Can someone explain to me that part in King of Attolia when someone says "that was revealing" and pheresine says "only to those who have eyes to see"
Like maybe I'm missing something, I'm not sure? Like is she just referring to the fact that most of the attolians aren't going to reevaluate the king no matter what info they get? Because honestly that's the best ive come up with. What exactly was revealing/revealed? Is it about their relationship??
There are many things I love about The Queen of Attolia but one of my favorites is how relentlessly Gen roasts Eddis throughout.
Our little fashion obsessed lying brat tells her not to wear a pin with a certain scarf and she does it anyway. Fine, he’ll steal the pin and serves her right.
He tells her that her clothes don’t fit and she looks awful.
The magus says she’s “magnetic” on a personal level and Gen responds, “Bro, have you looked at her? She’s ugly!”
The magus, gently and diplomatically, says she’s perhaps not the ideal of conventional beauty and Gen goes on to list all of her physical flaws with absolutely no hesitation like he’s been waiting for a chance to do so.
And I love it so much because he so obviously adores and loves her. It reminds me very much of my relationship with my own sister and how she talks to me.
And I just know that if Gen ever overheard anyone else say Eddis is ugly, he would absolutely not be okay with it. And it just makes me love him all the more.
It would make him so insufferable if he was stoic. It would be too childish, because anyone who has been in some pain knows it's a lot, and it's way better to play it up than to play it down. If it's about attention, you'll get more attention if you play it down and everyone still knows you're injured.
This goes hand in hand with his character. It allows him to pass under the radar because everyone is used to ignoring his moans. It also is a part of his goofier, less mature self, which is why you see as the books go on he becomes more chill. In The Thief he flips out at Pol for cleaning his injured hands. In the Queen of Attolia, he's depressed for the majority of the book, and everyone acknowledges he's not himself, no jokes, grinning, he becomes stoic. The in King of Attolia, he's getting back into his groove and freaks out after the attempt on his life, whining the entire walk back to his room, as well as flipping out at Petrus when he starts doing the stitches (only to show how much control he actually has by calming down and not reacting at all to the stitches), and in a smaller way, he also complains about sword practice. In conspiracy of kings, he's less present, but he has his moments with sword practice. Think as thieves, he briefly complains about brinna hitting him, but again, he doesn't appear much. Then in return of the thief, he complains for the show of it mostly. He walks in on the ambassador kissing Irene and positively flips out, but when Irene gets sick, he doesn't waste any time talking about himself, he doesn't complain about the food that's brought to him (this is before he goes to the kitchens, so it still has sand, jars he can't open, etc) but he puts up with it silently. Then later when they go to war, he has his fair share of poor health. He gets a fever 2 days into riding and he blows it off, saying oh it's just this dumb coat makes me so hot, I'm not sick, and follows it up with complaints about the doctors. And later he's unconscious for several days and reassures the important people that he's alright. Over the course of the 6 books, he goes from complaining about everything to using complaints as a form of communication and only complaining when it's appropriate/acceptable. He whines as they get home after months away because they all know he's happy to be home and excited to see his wife and kids. He knows when he can and can't complain.
Anyway I don't really know where I was going with this but one other thing. Ages ago, I read the false Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. People said the main character was like gen. No hes not. Dont let anyone lie to you. He demonstrates the difference between Gen as a whiner and Gen as a stoic because the main character, Jaron is supposed to be all tough and stoic and LITERALLY CLIMBS A CLIFF WITH BOTH LEGS BROKEN, not to mention he then gets into a sword fight with his arch nemesis and fights until he passes out and then when he regains consciousness, his arch nemesis is like well I beat you but I decided you can have control of the pirates anyway. And since some people obviously have no idea what is plausible, they should really not be trying. That's something that's great about gen. Is it possible for him to just chill no matter the injury? Yeah probably. But would he? No. It adds so much more to him to not walk off every inconvenience and I love his complaining
One of the things that makes Eugenides such a fantastic character is that he’s brave and loyal and noble, but not even a little bit stoic.
He spends so much time moaning and complaining. He gets scared and he cries and he feels no shame about any of it. He broods and wallows. The gods themselves tell him to stop whining.
I know a certain amount of it is a calculated act, but also, he’s mostly leaning into his strengths in those cases. It’s just so rare to see genuine heroism in a character with such traditionally unheroic traits, and I love it. It’s not something to overcome, it’s just who he is — the most inspiring man you’ll ever meet, openly nursing grudges and dishing out petty insults by the dozen.
I’m gon attempt the thief by Megan whaler to get me out of this reading slump
Eugenides, right? But what if, for Gen and Irenes anniversary or something, he has a set of wine glasses made that say "you've been poisoned" at the bottom. These glasses will only be used on particular occasions, for instance, when gen and Irene have private dinners, just the two of them; private dinners with Helen and sophos; or dinners to welcome new ambassadors
Eugenides? In the megaron? It’s more likely than you think
Gen is so feral like imagine you wake up in the dead of night and your little cousin is like two inches in front of your face, and your attendants in the SAME ROOM are still asleep, and he just goes “hey, can I borrow some of your soldiers and also a chariot? Gonna go blow up the navy of the country next door”