Charm Casting Dispatch
A break down of the details within episode 106 of ill fame
Genuinely had my head in my hands at one point when writing episode 106, thinking “How do I do this? I cannot write this! It’s impossible!”
I’m talking about writing a divination in reverse: having all the objects ready and retroactively applying meaning to them, while also trying to have them make sense and predict the plot that I have set up in future episodes. It’s harder than it looks.
Here’s the callbacks from old episdoes:
The “clutter stone” (centre in the picture above) is from episode 70, after Frankie and Rhys have a discussion about the duty they believe they have to fill in their relationship, and Robin makes a prediction of their future messy home.
The sea glass (top right) is in reference to a comment Frankie made about Rhys’ featherless cheeks way back in episode 8, “What about you, though? Are you all right? Your cheeks are as smooth as sea glass.” (As Rhys as a tendency to slip into his human glamour and tendencies when he’s ruminating).
The red stone (under the clutter stone), a red carnelian, is one of the stones Frankie and Rhys found on an excursion to a waterfall when they lived in the Black Mountains in episode 79, a place that became a symbol of their optimism in their future.
The pale green stone (bottom right) is from episode 100, a gift to Frankie from Rhys after they find out that Frankie’s pregnant. (This stone is a fulgurite, a type of stone created when lightning strikes sand. I thought this appropriate for our stormy Witch Queen.)
The other objects are all seen in episode 101 as Saer describes the curiousness of the Princess’ Favourite in a letter to the Land King: “He’s been doing this thing where he looks for interesting stones, and shells, twigs, flowers, washed up flotsam, dropped curiosities, silly things, and brings them back for Frances to admire. I can see why she littered the palace with her charms to attact him.”
I did make some notes, a kinda map, for the divination used in the episode to help me figure out what these objects mean. As difficult as this scene was to write, it was maybe one of the most rewarding, too. I really enjoyed giving my witches a type of divination that makes sense to them, after many episodes of them attempting other peoples versions of scrying. Of course they can only tell their own story with their own trinkets. Of course their method is charm casting, charmancy, trinket throwing.
Also with episode 106: I experimented with a watercolour background when Frankie finally sees what the trinkets are telling her. As you might be able to make out in the picture above, I wanted to illustrate “The rush of scenes through F[rankie]’s head as she looks at the trinkets, like it finally makes sense, her head makes the stories (almost a little overwhelming).”
An of course, our heroes come face to face with the big bads they’ve been putting off seeing for as long as they could.
Also, this speech from Robin seemed to connect with a few people, and I just want to say how that makes me feel really seen: as I work to try and understand the coersion I’ve been subject to myself in past relationships, and try and give myself some grace with this knowledge, what Robin says here is kinda what I needed to hear myself. The fact that others have connected with it makes me feel not alone in this matter, so thank you.
On the patreon front, four episodes are up ready to read, 107-110 (maybe some of my cruelest work hehehe). I should also have an exclusive comic ready to read on the Patreon soon, too.
Meanwhile, here’s a preview of episode 107, free to read 13th October:
Substack is telling me that this post is getting too long, so I will put my other drawings in a seperate post for a future date.
Until then, stay safe! x