Get Nerdy With Me No. 2
Another cyclical plot detail: William's care for Bree
In yesterday’s Get Nerdy With Me, I wrote about a parallel plot structure linking Legendborn and Bloodmarked. Today, I have another example of repeating plot points to gush about.
Twice—once in Legendborn and once in Bloodmarked, Williams makes Bree tea after a harrowing Legendborn ceremony. Both times, while they’re decompressing, they have a private heart-to-heart conversation with warm cups of tea in hand.
Around page 100 of Legendborn, William makes tea for Bree.
In Legendborn, after the Page Oath Ceremony1, William makes lemon-ginger tea and invites Bree to sit with him. He gives her a “Legendborn crash course.”2
Around page 100 of Bloodmarked, William makes tea for Bree again.
At roughly the same point in Oathbound (around page 100), the same scene happens again under similar circumstances. Just after the Legendborn Memorial Service3, William makes tea—chamomile tea this time—and he and Bree talk about the upcoming Rite of Kings4. Williams gives her advice about being a king.
Are Deonn and Beyoncé executing a similar artistic long game?
The other day, on Threads,
blew my mind when she reposted a Beyoncé theory that “Texas Hold ‘Em” from Cowboy Carter and “Pure/Honey” from Renaissance are intricately linked songs, with lyrics and imagery running in perfect parallel. (Below is the reel Dr. Walker shared, plus here’s her original Thread.)The theory that songs VERY intentionally mirror each other across Beyoncé albums reminds me so much of the mirroring plot details in Deonn’s books. This coincidence is so stunning. Beyond what it takes to envision and then execute this type of artistry, there is something awe inspiring and incredible about seeing two contemporary Black female artists doing a technique like this at the same time.
Tomorrow’s Get Nerdy With Me is about…
The subtle character foreshadowing for Mariah!
This is the annual initiation process into the Order. Once pages take the Oath of Fealty, they are granted “Sight, the ability to see aether.” The oaths are serious commitments. They’re not just verbal promises. The commitment to the Order is “living bonds” entwined in the page’s body via aether (Chapter 11, page 99).
Chapter 15, page 132 — This is a really great section to reread for a refresher of The Legendborn Cycle world building.
In Legendborn, Russ, Whitty, Fitz, and Evan die in battle. The Order holds a ceremony to honor them in Bloodmarked.
A type of coronation ceremony for King Arthur’s awakened descendant.