“Once, there was a girl who found a sword in the woods. Once, there was a girl who made a bargain with the Folk. Once, there was a girl who’d been a knight in the service of a monster. Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself. Once, there was a girl… Hazel” - The Darkest Part of The Forest
Queen Jude on her way to cut your head off!! Be sure to thank her.
WOW I’m so in love with her, she’s one of my favorite fantasy protagonists. I think I have a lot of her defensive tendencies (although I am not skilled in weaponry unfortunately) and I love the way she grows and evolves in the series.
I just read How The King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories and WOW my mind is blown, I’m just crazy obsessed with this series. Endlessly thanking @hollyblack for her brilliance. <3
Part 2 of art dump, I’ve been more update-y on my instagram @/ladylyeart go check it out! :^)
“Once, there was a girl who found a sword in the woods. Once, there was a girl who made a bargain with the Folk. Once, there was a girl who’d been a knight in the service of a monster. Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself. Once, there was a girl… Hazel” - The Darkest Part of The Forest
“Once, there was a girl who found a sword in the woods. Once, there was a girl who made a bargain with the Folk. Once, there was a girl who’d been a knight in the service of a monster. Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself. Once, there was a girl… Hazel” - The Darkest Part of The Forest
“Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself.”
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ― Holly Black, The Darkest Part of the Forest
“Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself.”
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ― Holly Black, The Darkest Part of the Forest
I looove that Grimsen was killed because of the curse he placed on the Blood Crown. He was killed by his pride. Now there’s some poetic justice!
But we can take this another level. Jude is able to destroy the curse using one of Grimsen weapons–Heartsworn which can cut through anything.
I find this really interesting, but I’m not quite sure what to make of it. @bigbookslilreads @fangirlinghard-spoilerson @my-folkoftheair-headcanons @legendarycollectionjellyfish3 @thespringflower and anyone who wants to weigh in, what do you think?
@faerytalesfromtheabyss Thabk you for tagging me!
Someone, I think @fangirlinghard-spoilerson, mentioned that they think that it is because Heartsworn is able to cut through everything, and I’m inclined to agree. I think that anything happens to include curses. So Heartsworn not only cut through the snake but the curse attached to it.
I love the Heartsworn can cut through curses theory! It would also make sense because in TDPOTF Hazel isn’t cursed when she uses Heartsworn to break the coffin or Heartseeker
The Discord for the Holly Black read-a-thon is live: https://discord.gg/mZVdkbE
The first book we’re scheduled to read is Tithe! Ch 1-8: finished by Sept 22 and Ch 9-End finished by Sept 27
Let’s see if we can finish all Holly Black’s faerie books before TQON comes out!
Feel free to reblog/invite anyone you think would be interested!
Hey, Holly Black fans! In preparation for TQoN. I’m going to reread all of HB’s YA faerie books (The Modern Faerie Tales, The Darkest Part of the Forest, and TCP & TWK). I was wondering if anyone was interested in doing a mini book club!
This is open to anyone who wants to reread, read for the books for the first time, or if you just want to talk about the HB faerie universe.
If you’re interested, either DM me or comment on this post. I’ll set up a group chat on Insta, FB chat, or Discord (whatever works for everyone). Let me know if you have any questions!
Thank you @rosiethorns88 for the amazing Instagram giveaway! I love the prints and I’m super excited to do the mini paper craft 😆
Did you all see the new Darkest Part of the Forest cover? Not gunna lie, I like the old cover better
I’m only halfway through The Darkest Part of the Forest but i’m digging these wild Evan’s kids. And I’m weak for battle siblings
We got two Modern Faerie Tales short-stories (which is great!), but I also want to know how my favorite knight Hazel is doing! Seeing her for one second in TCP wasn't enough. At least Ben and Severin’s relationship seems to be going well
So, I have a question. Is there a fandom name for the universe where The Folk of the Air, The Modern Faerie Tales, The Darkest Part of the Forest, and (debatably) the Spiderwick Chronicles take place?
I just call it the faerie-verse/fea-verse or Holly Black faerie universe. But I would love to know if anyone else has a name for this universe
My boyfriend’s hot take on who should have ended up together in “The Darkest Part of the Forest” by Holly Black
For all the holly black fanatics out there. Have there been cases in other books of hers where a curse is broken?
Curses have been broken in some of Holly Black’s other faerie books. Sometimes these aren't directly called curses but they have the same characteristics of a curse. I’ll go through the ones I can think of off the top of my head without spoiling the books.
Tithe
A character is forced to serve an evil queen. This is never directly called a curse, but the character sees it as a curse because he must follow every order the queen gives.
Valiant
A character has a harp that traps the souls of faeries she killed, holding them in torment even after death.
Ironside
There is a character who removes curses that faeries place on mortals.
Another character is cursed by a faerie so that everything he touches turns to rot. They figure out this is a variation for the Minos Curse (the king who turned everything he touched to gold) so the curse can be cured with salt water.
There’s also a banishment in Ironside which was similar a to curse because the character could not return until she found “a faerie who could lie,” an impossible task...
The Darkest Part of the Forest
This book is curses central. Here’s some of the opening lines just to give you an idea: “Down a path worn into the woods, past a stream and a hollowed-out log full of pill bugs and termites, was a glass coffin. It rested right on the ground, and in it slept a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives... And no matter what anyone did, he never, ever woke up.” You know, until he does.
A character experiences such deep sorrow that they turn into a monster.
Another character helps remove curses that faeries place on mortals.
In conclusion, curses in Holly Black’s faerie universe tend to be broken in one of four ways:
1. Cleverly manipulating the wording so it serves a hero’s own purposes
2. Killing the person who created the curse
3. Using a folklore method to break the curse
4. A character is able to do whatever the curse requires for it to be broken. Eg. Humans are cursed to be turned to stone until a human sees them and recognizes them as human.
Also, I highly recommend all these books. First off, they're really good. Second off, they give you insight into characters, magical items, and events mentioned in The Folk of the Air. Third, they’ll help you with your TWK hangover.
Let me know if you have any questions. I hope that helped!
Being human is an essential part of who Jude is. Yes, being a human in Faery has made Jude fearful, untrusting, blood thirsty, and a little paranoid. (But honestly, these flaws make so much sense for her situation. And they make her a compelling character.) But, being human has also given her the determination that most faeries lack. If Jude became fae, she would be sacrificing part of herself--and not in a positive way.
The Wicked King was Cardan’s book for character development. In many ways, he confronted how he behaved in the past, and in the end chose to fully accept his position as High King. (And also did a terrible thing in the name of being a just king.) I’m hoping that The Queen of Nothing focuses on Jude’s character development and that she discovers her value as a person and the value of being human.
Also, from other books in Holly Black’s faerie universe, I don’t think Jude will become fae. Yes, Jude could probably stay in Elfhame to avoid aging, like Val Moren, Eldred’s seneschal. But, she would be forfeiting the human world. If you’ve read Holly Black’s Spiderwick Chronicles, a character who has been in Faerie for about 100 years decides to leave (and consequently turns to dust) because he finds that life has become unsatisfying.
You might know Holly Black as the queen of cleverly foreshadowed plot twists. But I also consider her the queen of bitter sweet endings, especially when it comes to human/fae relationships. You kind of see this in TCP and TWK with Jude betraying Cardan and vise-vera. But the books in The Modern Faerie Tale Series and Darkest Part of the Forest have mostly happy endings lined with a sad undertone. In these books, the happy ending is combined with a funeral or a statement about mortality. The juxtaposition is a little odd. But for the most part, it works.
The endings make you a happy and a little empty at the same time. (Maybe the word I’m looking for is wistful?) Whatever the feeling is, it makes you want to return to Holly Black’s Faerie world and let the pages breathe life into her characters once more. It’s a feeling you still remember years after you’ve read one of her books. And you feel it again after every reread.
I’m going to talk about statements about mortality at the end of Valiant and The Darkest Part of the Forest. These quotes really give you insight into how Holly Black writes human/fae relationships. In these quotes, the faeries choose to love humans (whether that is romantically or as friends or family) despite their mortality.
Earlier in the book Valiant, the length of a human life is compared to a faerie sigh, pretty much saying that human lives are short and inconsequential. Here is how Ravus, a troll, responds to his human lover, Val, at the end of the book.
"Gone in one faerie sigh," Val quoted. Leather-clad fingers brushed over her short hair, rested on her cheek. "I can hold my breath” (Valiant)
To give you context for the next quote from The Darkest Part of the Forest, a changing (a faerie raised by humans) says this to his faerie mother:
“Over and over you tell me that I will never be mortal, the span of one human life is so short as to mean nothing. Fine, then let me have my human life. Let all the mortals I love die and blow away to dust. Let me have Nia for a mother and Charles for a father and Carter for a brother. Let me be Jack Gordon, and when I am done, when all is dust and ashes, I will return to you and learn how to be your son... Let me have this, Mother, because once they are dead, I can never have it again” (TDPF 311).
These quotes reveal what I love about Holly Black’s human/fae relationships. (Or at least these human/fae relationships. AKA not Taryn and Locke.) Although the fae are strange and perhaps love differently than humans do--they choose love even though it is the difficult option. They choose love even when they know that death is inevitable and that loving a human will eventually bring them sadness. Although the lives of the humans they love will only fill a small part of their immortal existence, they choose to love.
Ravus, Jack, Severin, (and probably Cardan) see the value of loving humans. I hope Jude sees the value of loving herself.
