In the second part of Lords and Ladies<\/i>, it begins. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.<\/p>\n
I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand this at all, so I feel entirely like Magrat here. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like everyone knows this big secret, talks about it openly without defining it, and then acts like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a big deal.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I sympathize with Magrat as much as I do. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never quite felt like she belongs, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so desperate to find the comfort that everyone else seems to have. Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her perception<\/i> that everyone else is moving through life smoothly when that might not exactly be the case. I think you can see Granny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anxiety creeping into her mind during the opening section here, especially once she starts thinking about the clock that her mother used to wind up. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve honestly never<\/i> seen Granny so vulnerable in these books, so it was a bit of a shocker to get another flashback of her, particularly one that was so sad<\/i>.<\/p>\n
But why was it time to think about the past? When we switch to Nanny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s point of view, she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to be expecting something to happen like Granny was. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandable, though, because I feel like Granny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit more perceptive than Nanny, mostly on account of the fact that Granny doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a bustling household to inspect and judge and socialize with. However, at least she knew something<\/i>. By the time Pratchett gets to Magrat, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that this character is on a much different path than the other two witches.<\/p>\n
I appreciated that the events of both Wyrd Sisters<\/i> and Witches Abroad<\/i> matter so much here because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare. I actually like that the Discworld<\/i> books are only loosely tied together, that they happen out of order and may only contain a passing reference to another novel. But for Magrat Garlick, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a story that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been unresolved, and now is the time for it to unfold. After she spent so much time in Witches Abroad<\/i> wanting something else for her own life, it seemed like she might finally get a path that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d enjoy. However, Pratchett quickly dispels of that notion, and I think he has a fantastic grasp on why Magrat wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be thrilled to marry a king after all.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that Verence is a bad person, and Magrat certainly enjoys his company! But Magrat desires something a lot more akin to a fairy tale. She wants to be swept up off her feet. She wants romantic gestures. She wants to be pursued and worshiped and adored. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anything necessarily wrong with that either! I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely the case once you consider the kind of partner Verence proves himself to be. When she arrives at the castle to discuss her future with King Verence II, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, a disaster.<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no romance. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no sweeping off of her feet. No, Verence introduces her to all the (admittedly impressive but uninteresting) things he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done to Lancre in the eight months she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been gone since the end of Wyrd Sisters<\/i>. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all wonderful things! As Pratchett describes him, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an unnatural monarch because he cares so much about his kingdom, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done a lot<\/i> of reading in order to be the best king possible. Unfortunately, he treats his marriage to Magrat much like another task to be completed in the daily duties as ruler. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s completely disconnected from the romance of it. Even when Magrat brings up the fact that he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even ask her about it, he dismisses her quickly.<\/p>\n
He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not cruel. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just oblivious.<\/p>\n
So when she was magically teleported to the same place as Granny and Nanny, I thought she would rely on her role as a witch to compensate for his dissatisfaction. Unfortunately\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Granny. You know, I was really hoping that these two might have been able to move beyond their most common issue, but holy shit. In a matter of minutes, Granny and Magrat slip right back into the same routine we saw in Witches Abroad<\/i>: Granny and Nanny speak cryptically about the circles, the Dancers, the Long Man, and Them, refusing to define them for her. Then Granny brings out her condescension:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No harm in telling her about the Dancers, at any rate,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d mumbled Nanny Ogg.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 you know\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Magrat,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Granny.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that meant to mean?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Magrat demanded.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You probably won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel the same way about Them, is what I am saying,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Granny.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sigh. Then maybe you should at least<\/i> give her a chance to know what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about? Guide her if you feel like she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being misguided? This is the same problem we saw before: Granny treats Magrat like an outsider. After nearly an entire novel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth of this, Magrat is far less tolerant of or patient towards this behavior, and everything goes south in record time. She shirks her identity as a witch because apparently<\/i>, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not good enough to be one, or at least this is how she feels. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heartbreaking about this is that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not going to be happy as the queen, either. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit in there, and Verence is not her ideal partner. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not going to be happy!<\/p>\n That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my prediction, at least. As for the circle? I have no idea. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a portal of sorts? But what the hell<\/i> came out of it that used to be extinct??? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SCARED.<\/p>\n vid<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>. In the second part of Lords and Ladies, it begins. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[504,463,248],"class_list":["post-3552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-lords-and-ladies","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S. this summer and fall Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"