picture in my mind

Tonight I will not be emo, but I will be a... fangirl!

Haven't been a full-fledged one in a while, have I.



I have been reeling from the happy-shock and overwhelming giddiness of having discovered a tiny Lymond fandom on tumblr -- tiny because I don't think it's more than the same 10-15 people or so blogging constantly. Yesterday, while passing time till my physiotherapy appointment (a story for another post, perhaps), I opened my Tumblr dashboard and was greeted by a Lymond discussion post. Which led me to track a lymond tag, and discovering a small but lively group of fans posting much love about it, in various forms.

For instance, there is incorrectlymondquotes, which attempts to write bits of canon dialogue or characterization into wacky, and blunt versions:

Adam Blacklock: I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan.

Danny Hislop: We attack the Tartars with hummus.

Then there are others who discuss, about themes, and feminism, and plot movements. Some who envision fics to write, but acknowledge that any fic will never measure because the canon version is so beautifully written that no fic can ever attempt to match, and canon is so complete and rich so what's the point? This post is hilarious and brilliant, it has to be shared, where the author comes up with ideas for various fic genres, for instance:

Amnesia: which is actually already canon jesus christ dorothy but maybe i can do something to hurt francis even more hahahhaha i mean Imagine if it were Philippa? Sometime after they’ve settled into being married, Philippa loses her memory? And doesn’t remmeber… most of what she’s experienced with Francis. YES OBVIOUSLY THIS IS HOLLYWOOD AMNESIA, SHHHHH She hates him, ahhhh hahahaha, she hates him SHE HATES HIM SO MUCH, and Francis would want her back, but I do not forone second believe he would do crappy romcom-style stuff like trying to ~make her remember.~ Literally the second she said ‘I don’t like you, get away from me’ he. would. back. off., but he also wouldn’t be able to just leave because they’re, well, they’ve built a life together, and it would just be awkward and painful and amazing and maybe she never gets her memories back ever oh my goooooood and he has to leave her forever because she never forms that new, positive opinion of him because they can’t go through everything they went through all over again and oh my goooooooood it would be the most agonizing thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing

Bodyswap: well, Francis and Richard going all Freaky Friday is almost too good to pass up, lbrh. But that would be comic relief. The real disaster would be Francis and Gabriel switching places. Which, obviously, is the road I’d want to see this sort of story go down. (You can even have an HP AU version: “You didn’t really believe polyjuice was the only way to accomplish this, did you?”) I guess I’d be interested in either a non-HP curse/magic one, or a future!science brain swap one. The only thing these ideas have in common for me is that Philippa knows Francis isn’t Francis fucking immediately. Or rather, it’s not that she knows first, it’s just that she is willing to admit to herself that what she knows is true before anyone else is willing to admit it to themselves. So she knows, and even though she doesn’t like him at the start, she likes Gabriel a whole lot less (isn’t this kind of the plot of the novels?), so she helps fix it, somehow. In the magic one, Gaultier and Marthe are the sorcerer and his apprentice who make the switch happen. In the science one, Gaultier and Marthe are the doctor and assistant who make it happen. So, I guess these two half-baked notions have Gaultier and Marthe in common as well. That’s all I’ve got.

(And ohgod, what's wrong with me, I can't recall -- who on earth in canon had amnesia? Are we referring to Lymond's bout of headaches that render him unconscious?)

And then there is the ever-constant undercurrent of why is Lymond not more well-known and made into a TV show? If they could make a decent Game of Thrones adaptation, a decent Lymond series is not impossible. I think it'd need less prop and CG effects and therefore less capital. I know it may end up just terrible-beyond-terrible, but a film adaptation is fundamentally a tribute to the greatness of a story, and hello, this series is one heck of a story that so many are missing out on. It needs to be made.

And besides, we have a suitable candidate again I think, now that Peter O'Toole (who was Dunnett's choice) is no more -- that is, Tom Hiddleston -- who is awesome in many ways and can possibly pull off Lymond, though maybe not as pretty. Please, before Hiddleston too gets waaaay too old to be casted (he is already way older that Lymond was in Game of Kings!).

People are spreading the love:

It reminds me of my own early days of Lymond. I distinctly recall having to go sit for CTs (i.e. common tests back in JC) but wishing the whole time I could read ("THERE ARE WORDS THAT NEED READING" indeed) instead of sit in an exam hall, and what was the point anyway -- I was so screwed grade-wise cause I was up all night reading Lymond instead of studying, haha! 

God, how on earth did I manage to survive A-levels like that?

I started reading Lymond when I was 16, and finished the last book, I think just after I turned 18. After which I roped my best friends into it (with some success!) -- and birds, if you're reading this, do you guys have any idea how easy it is to google our old forums??? They are no longer private -- I repeat, they are NOT PRIVATE. There are quite incriminating things there -- DUCK, do something.

I laugh so hard reading our old posts, Lymond-related or not:

And I don't think Pige's gonna read Lymond. Seeing how Eunice's brain almost exploded from reading Lymond, think Pige'll sort of become discouraged.