18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 36

[cahn]

Starting a couple of comments earlier than usual to mention there are a couple of new salon fics! These probably both need canon knowledge.

felis ficlets on siblings!

Siblings (541 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Summary:

Three Fills for the 2022 Three Sentence Ficathon.

Chapter One: Protective Action / Babysitting at Rheinsberg (Frederick/Fredersdorf, William+Henry+Ferdinand)
Chapter Two: Here Be Lions (Wilhelmine)

Unsent Letters fic by me:

Letters for a Dead King (1981 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen (1726-1802)
Characters: Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Love/Hate, Talking To Dead People, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family
Summary:

Just because one's king and brother is dead doesn't mean one has to stop writing to him.

Comments

Re: I. General and AW

[cahn]

It really is Christmas in July! :DDDDDD

Both Volz and Meusel think Heinrich was the only brother of Fritz who was a worthy historical personality, and that AW and Ferdinand were on an identical mediocre level in terms of their abilities, but also nice.

This just made me laugh. Sorry AW and Ferdinand, at least you got to be nice!

(What you can already tell here is that AW - despite not having been keen on this war - had drunk the kool aid that comes with being raised by FW in a society where military glory is the ultimate virtue, and you're not a man if you don't have it.)

:(

([personal profile] cahn, reminder, he did write it, but it wasn't published until many years later and then condemned as an attack on Fritz. Ziebura quotes extensively from it, though.)

Ah, right, thank you!

As long as the King's glorious reign will last, I regard myself as deleted from the ranks of those who work to enhance his military reputation.

:((((( This whole excerpt is just heartbreaking.

The Lehndorff letters which are attached contain his attempt at a pep talk in which he makes a very Lehndorffian over the top comparison to the Iliad and says everyone is considering AW as Achilles and hopes for his return to the battlefield which will surely bring the turnaround in this war. Which, oh, Lehndorff.

Achilles! I concur: Oh Lehndorff!

We all claim that it must have been a misunderstanding, as the King would surely not have neglected paying this courtesy, and thus we try our best as good courtiers to sweeten the awful medicine.

Poor EC too!

Now I find that I'm today not worth more than I was yesterday, and tomorrow I might be worth less than today, so that after all discounts I don't present much of an investment in totem.

Amalie really is just so awesome, isn't she :D <3

Re: I. General and AW

[mildred_of_midgard]

We all claim that it must have been a misunderstanding, as the King would surely not have neglected paying this courtesy, and thus we try our best as good courtiers to sweeten the awful medicine.

Poor EC too!

I got sidetracked with detective work and forgot to comment: EC was probably not much comforted, given that after Soor, when her brother was killed, she wrote to one of her surviving brothers that she's heard not a syllable from Fritz, and she can't believe how heartless he is. Then he writes a "It's not my fault he's dead!" letter, that makes me think AW was like, "Fritz? Are you going to send your wife condolences about the guy who died in your service?" making Fritz get all defensive.

Re: I. General and AW

[cahn]

Ohhhh right, this was the Other Terrible Consolation letter! Heh, I can totally see AW doing that. (I mean, I can definitely see Fritz getting all defensive about it, that's a given.)

Re: I. General and AW

[mildred_of_midgard]

I think AW's possible involvement was actually Selena's bit of detective work, but she sold me on her conclusions!