Miguel is exactly the right kind of dumb to have the ol’ lover who looks like your husband dodge work. He’s egotistical and convinced he’s more clever than anyone around him, but blind and underestimates anyone who doesn’t have something dangly between their legs. (And even then usually only those of noble lines.) His wife would never think to cuckold him.

And so far he’s been right. His first two wives never did. (Although, I don’t know whether it was that it never occurred to them, they didn’t think of it early enough on and by the time he was threatening divorce, they wanted the divorce so bad they could taste it, or that they just never found anyone they wanted to sleep with in the time they had.

Annette is pretty good at making the best of a shitty set of circumstances. No it’s not what she wants for her life–at all–but she does understand that there are worse existences than having a husband who ignores her and disparages her when he’s infrequently around, but isn’t around a lot and doesn’t really care what she does or doesn’t do as long as she doesn’t make him look bad in front of anyone who matters.

It is a cage, and she sees it and understands it, but her “bad situation” could be far, far worse than it is. I’m glad that you’re seeing depth in her already. I always worry about shallow characters (who aren’t supposed to be that way.)

Actually, she’s a Wesleyan/Tower, ultimately, (that’s what she rolled for family affiliation.) which Babette is only a Wesleyan in name. (Actually, interestingly enough, Katherine, Marianne’s mother, is an Aglovale/Babette descendant. Don’t worry though, Marianne takes after her father’s line, which is Milo/Nicole.) Though, after five hundred years, it’s entirely possible that there is a dab or two of Babette blood in her somewhere. I haven’t traced everyone’s family trees THAT closely, they’re tangled enough as is!

I could totally see Tawny speaking in the same “voice” as Babette. It wasn’t entirely intentional, but still… *shudders* We’re talking apocalyptic levels of stupid right there in that pairing…

Thanks, Winter!

Although, you’re right, Bors–and by extension Miguel–couldn’t be too hard to outsmart, I’m reminded of another Winnie the Pooh quote (though movie and hardly book-canon) “Never trust that thing between your ears, brains will get you nowhere fast, my dears. Haven’t had a need for mine in years.” Because it could be Bors’ theme. (And if you chopped off the last bit, it would even be something that Bors would say, at least directed at women.)

Actually, handling Miguel by bringing up that he can’t get it up would be a good way to go. His first two wives were in different circumstances when he decided to chuck them out the door and were glad to be rid of them so they were all for letting him get the annulment. Tawny stands to lose more than she gains if she ends up not providing Bors with that heir.

And yes, considering how he treated both of them, both before and after their divorces, both Viola and Monica would be fully on board with telling anyone who would listen about Miguel’s impotence. I dunno though that you could get the court to let Annette testify about the state of Miguel’s littlest solider, after all she’s never seen it (and she never will, I feel bad enough that she has to see Cox/Ietrin’s on occasion.) so it’s all hearsay.

Yeah, Annette traded a father of crazy for a family of crazy. Oh, she doesn’t like Ellan, she never has, but she knows how to work around him, most of the time.

It’s not hard, he doesn’t exactly have a surfeit of brains. And Masen will probably survive his father’s visit too. Work, more than likely, will save him that and Annette doesn’t actually blame her husband for his father. She has other reasons for that…

Thanks, Morgaine!

I’m loving Annette, and as much as I pity her for her husband, it’s really interesting that she’s in an arranged marriage and coping with it. I would have pegged her as banging on the sides of the cage, but there’s more layers to it than that allows. You’ve drawn a really great character with her.

Is Tawny at all descended from Babette? It’s strange to say I hear Tawny speaking in her voice, but I absolutely do. *Is off to ponder the black hole that would be Babette/Bors*

But then again, there’s always hope for the future, isn’t there? Tawny could grow something other than fluff between her ears. Maybe what Annette said could be a wake-up call. I have full confidence that Miguel cannot be very hard to defeat if she puts her mind to it. There’s always Annette’s idea, getting a lover of his coloring … and there’s always the possibility of threatening to expose Miguel’s “problem” in open court (or however the annulment is handled) if Miguel wants to throw her out on the street.

And if Annette isn’t allowed to testify in court, then there’s always shouting it from the rooftops. Repeatedly. With his two other ex-wives (assuming they’re still living) for backup.

After all, if both of them had no problem having kids … surely they’ll back Tawny up on Miguel’s problems.

Poor Annette, though, being married into this family of crazy. I hope she survives the upcoming visit of her father-in-law … who am I kidding? I hope Masen and Ellan survive. They’re the ones who are going to need the help.

But even taking that into account, Tawny doesn’t really deserve being married to Bors-the-drunk-and-impotent with her whole future resting on whether or not she can get him hard enough to get knocked up. She’s a sweet kid and she definitely needs a confidant who is not Annette. Annette’s too cynical and sarcastic and doesn’t read people well enough to understand when she should tread lightly (case in point, right now, probably not the best time to bring up taking a lover, even if it’s probably the best way to handle this.)

Tawny will, however, be one to watch for how she develops because while right now she’s scrambling to make Miguel happy, but there’s no guarantees for the future.

As for Annette and why she married Cox, it certainly wasn’t for love. Annette’s father Patron was a drinking buddy of Ellan’s and they decided they could kill the proverbial two ducks with one stone if they married their problem children off to each other. If there is one thing that Annette and Cox have (over say Ietrin and Jeda) it is they have come to rely on the fine art of compromise in their marriage.

… It’s scary thinking that Ietrin would ever compromise with anyone… But Cox doesn’t always get his way, I think it’s good for Ietrin’s character to know that in a lot of ways someone’s got his balls in a vice and is just crazy enough to do them permanent harm. So when Annette draws a line, he thinks good and hard about whether he wants to cross it. (Which is something nobody ever did to Ietrin, really, forced him to think.)

And while I won’t say who was at the door, I will say that no, it wasn’t her husband and that we will meet up with him in a few episodes.

Thanks, Van!

I take it that Miguel is the drunken reincarnation of Bors? Poor Tawny. She seems rather Lynn-like in her predicament, only not lucky enough to have married a Tommy or to have a Claire or a Morgan or a Clarice for support. And, okay, maybe not as bright, but that doesn’t mean she deserves any of this any more. A pity that her father is enough of a Bors himself that he’d force her into a nunnery if she fails to get pregnant by a guy who can’t get it up! And of course she won’t get pregnant by a guy who can’t get it up.

Hopefully she’ll come around on the lover idea and find someone with a Miguel-like look. Or, better yet, she’ll call him out and pull a Geneva, but I struggle to see her doing that at this point.

I liked getting into Annette’s head! She’s an interesting character. I wonder how she got stuck married to Cox. An arranged marriage or marriage of convenience, I’m guessing?