Extra 14: Parabatai
We discuss the Parabatai relationship between Jace and Alec, helped along by some stunningly beautiful meta written by faejilly, which you can find here and here on tumblr (go read this immediately, it’s gorgeous!) before expanding our discussion to other works of fiction (and one real life example) to see, what makes a pair of people Parabatai, and what speaks against it.
The discussion includes Black Sails (read Ruth’s tumblr post for some more Anne & Jack quotes here, in case you needed more reasons to go watch this show!!), Buffy, Lord of the Rings, X Files, Castle, The Libertines, Harry Potter and Doctor Who.
Come talk to us on Twitter and Tumblr, or email us and please review us on iTunes.
18th September 2018 @ 5:34 pm
No wait, Holmes and Watson are perfect parabatai! See, the thing about Holmes being The Most Important Person is because the books are from Watson’s POV… that’s like asking Alec if he’s as important as Jace or Magnus, obviously he’s gonna say no because he has no perspective on the subject. But if you ask Holmes he would absolutely tell you Watson is the most important person in his life, that Watson makes him *better* and that who he is and what he’s accomplished is only possible because Watson was there to help him. I’m gonna have to pull out my books again and throw quotations at you later but anyways. ANYWAYS. It’s the most common thing adaptations forget, I think, that Holmes is deeply, deeply appreciative of Watson. (Also that Holmes is really very nice, but that’s a whole separate rant.)
19th September 2018 @ 8:45 am
OK. I buy that. And look forward to the quote flinging! However the thing I would counter with slightly (and I haven’t listen back on the episode since we recorded so have no idea if what i actually said in ep anymore…) is that my question isn’t about whether Watson makes Holmes better, but the other way around. Does Holmes serve Watson?
19th September 2018 @ 12:10 pm
You should listen to, it’s pretty good ::sniggles::
19th September 2018 @ 10:47 am
this is going to be where I have nothing to say to either of you, because I’ve never read the books, isn’t it? But I do see your point about a give and take, to a degree, but it still seems sort of unbalanced to me. which relationships almost always are, so that’s not necessarily a “and therefore it can’t be” conclusion, but when I think about what they do for each other, the phrases that come to mind over and over are ‘Watson makes Holmes better. And Holmes elevates Watson, and his purpose in life’ and that’s not very balanced, is it? And it might not be in any way fair, but it’s what’s in my head every time I think about the two