slightlyrebelliouswriter23:

lmao Jude was SO oblivious and i love her for that 😂🙈 i’d even go so far as to say everyone realised she had feelings for Cardan before she realised she had feelings for Cardan.

in terms of Balekin, yes i absolutely believe he knew Cardan was harbouring feelings for Jude. if he didn’t hear about it through general court gossip, i imagine he’d have only needed to be observant for a minute while Cardan was interacting with or staring at Jude. i mean, that’s how long it took Kaye to realise Cardan was smitten in the bonus chapter of TCP, and she didn’t really even know him.

actual evidence of Balekin’s knowledge is few and far between. but i feel like we can piece together a few instances to create plausible evidence.

first, and most convoluted, we have the scene in TCP when Jude is spying for Dain in Hollow Hall. Balekin and Cardan come into the study, so Jude has to hide. she watches the scene unfold, wherein Balekin tries to goad Cardan into fighting him:

“‘I have tried to improve you, but you insist on wasting your talents on revels, on being drunk under the moonlight, on your thoughtless rivalries and your pathetic romances—’” (TCP, ch.12, p.117)

there’s no question that the “thoughtless rivalries” he is referring to is, at least in part, Jude. everyone knows Cardan and Jude hate each other, and Jude has practically publicly declared war on Cardan by that point.

“pathetic romances” could mean Nicasia, but i don’t believe Balekin would regard a romance with Nicasia as pathetic. in fact, i think he would probably consider it one of the only smart moves Cardan ever made. not only is it politically strategic, Nicasia is cold and calculating, which i believe Balekin would appreciate. not to mention, in most of Elfhame’s eyes, Nicasia is quite the opposite of pathetic.

so it’s interesting to me that Balekin would use “thoughtless rivalries” back-to-back with a statement about romance, and a “pathetic” one at that. we all know Balekin’s less than high opinions about mortals. why could the two statements not be one in the same? why couldn’t both be referring to Jude?

another instance of Balekin’s awareness might be in TWK when Jude comes to visit him in the Tower of Forgetting. he says:

“I have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. Is that right?” (TWK, ch. 2, p.25)

Jude tells him she’s never been in love so she wouldn’t know, but Balekin responds, “And of course, you can lie. I can see why Cardan would find that helpful.”

this is more of a taunt aimed at Jude, one that says Balekin has guessed at her feelings for Cardan, as well. but Jude, being oblivious, doesn’t realise this. it’s the proximity (again) of the last two lines that strikes me. they were just talking about the feeling of falling in love. why would Cardan find it useful that Jude can lie about that, if not to cover up their feelings for one another?

and finally, we have the most glaringly obvious sign of them all. in the Undersea, when Balekin asks Jude, who he thinks is under ensorcellment, to kiss him like she would kiss Cardan (TWK, ch. 23, p.239).

this is a blatant barb aimed at both Cardan and Jude. Balekin is using the knowledge that they are romantically involved and the fact that Jude will have no choice but to reveal that part of herself to him, be it out of necessity to keep her act up or under the ensorcellment he thinks she’s under, to confirm what he already knows.

he asks her to kiss him just after he asks her who is more worthy of the crown, himself or Cardan. Jude responds that Balekin is more worthy, because she knows that’s what he wants to hear. and Balekin takes it as the truth because he doesn’t know she can’t be ensorcelled.

but by asking Jude to kiss him like he’s Cardan after making her admit Cardan is not worthy of the crown, Balekin’s message is clear:

for all the right moves she made in stealing the crown from under his nose, Jude couldn’t help herself but make a very poor move in falling for Cardan. that she is weak for succumbing to him, the less worthy brother, and it will cost her everything she’s worked so hard for. that Balekin will have his brother’s crown and his brother’s love, if he so desires. that Jude and Cardan’s feelings for each other can and will be used against them.

it’s a finely distilled humiliation.

–Em 🖤🗡

more theories

slightlyrebelliouswriter23:

i think Madoc thinks romantic love is a fool’s distraction. he loved Eva and all it got him was a broken heart and, later, the realisation that he’d been duped. i also think Madoc believes Cardan to be a fool (he says as much in chapter 12 of TWK).

there are a few instances where Madoc could’ve easily caught on:

• Cardan kissing Jude in front of everyone when he’s poisoned.
• Cardan becoming furious at the idea proposed by the council that he marry Nicasia (Madoc was there and, strangely, brought up Jude directly after Cardan mentions “marriage and breeding” 😳🙈)
• not to mention Ghost, one of Jude’s closest allies, was basically Madoc’s spy for a decent amount of time in TWK. Ghost undoubtedly knew of both Jude’s and Cardan’s secret affections. who knows what he divulged to Madoc against his will?

Madoc definitely knows by the first quarter of QON. Jude gets to Madoc’s camp and he proceeds to tell who he thinks is Taryn that he believes Cardan will duel him for love. and though there is an implication during that conversation that Cardan will duel for the love of anyone, Madoc really means he will duel for Jude.

but i actually think Madoc knew of Cardan’s crush well before that.

if we know for a fact that Balekin knew Cardan had a crush on Jude, then it’s also not unwarranted to conclude that Balekin likely let this fact slip to Madoc when they were working together on the coup.

Madoc never admits to knowing outright in TCP or TWK. but then again, why would he if he suspects Jude reciprocates the feelings? Cardan is High King and has feelings for Jude. Jude is Seneschal and has feelings for Cardan. they would make each other more “legitimate” in the eyes of the court if they fell in love and ruled together.

it’s not difficult to see their courtship could pose a great threat to Madoc’s plans.

it’s better for him to try and convince Jude she’s being foolish for a foolish boy than to inform her she might actually stand a chance with the High King.

plus, Madoc is a man of strategy, which probably also means he knows how to read people. if Cardan spends as much time staring at Jude as everyone in Elfhame makes it out to be, there’s no doubt in my mind that Madoc would’ve noticed that, too.

–Em 🖤🗡

did Balekin know Cardan had a crush?

more theories & analysis

daddycardan:

It’s pretty clear that Jude is very different from the faeries. It’s hard to gauge what exactly she looks like & therefore how pretty she is, because Jude can be an unreliable narrator sometimes (like when it comes to interpreting Cardan, she often gets it wrong, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she underplayed her own looks, too). She doesn’t often mention her physical appearance and when she does, it’s not overly positive, which indicates that she either doesn’t consider herself pretty, or doesn’t attribute much importance to it.

NOW, that doesn’t mean she isn’t pretty. I actually think that she’s really fucking attractive. From the story, we know that faeries are tall and slender and aren’t well endowed with curves. We also know that Jude (& Taryn) are on the curvier side, especially when it comes to their breasts. Jude is also a very physically active person, so she’s got muscle mass. As for her face, it’s safe to assume that it’s pretty; remember the incident at the mall where some emo dude tried hitting on her? In human standards, she is definitely attractive.

Jude is a different kind of pretty compared to the standard faerie beauty ideal, but I think the fey actually appreciate that. It seems they are fascinated and allured by Jude and Taryn. (Edir wrote love songs for Taryn while admiring her from a distance.)

There’s also an element of the fey being surprised with themselves for finding them attractive (Cardan spiraled into an existential crisis over his crush), which I think nicely demonstrates that humans and fey are actually more similar as a species than the faeries would like to admit. Like, this is getting a bit off-topic, but the fact there’s this organic mutual attraction between them and that the two species can procreate, really shows that they are as closely related as species can get. Not even horses & donkeys can produce fertile offspring, yet faeries and humans can.

But to answer your question, yes, I think Jude is very attractive, and both humans and faeries know it!