I'm reminded of something we can only know about on re-read. "'How do you take leave, for all time, of a brother?" For that, it seems , is what L is doing.
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It’s genuinely wrenching - and he can’t tell R the truth of why he’s being such an asshole.
aug 26, 2025, 11:27 pm • 1 0 • view
And not even just for the usual reasons. Many people despair at R's many regressions through the series, but a close reading of this scene makes the later ones much more understandable.
aug 26, 2025, 11:51 pm • 1 0 • view
He thinks they’re ok, mostly, and then this happens? I think it’s in DK where it talks about what it’s like to be L’s brother … when L is deliberately going for him it’s just awful for poor R, who is a good guy really.
aug 27, 2025, 12:11 am • 2 0 • view
Yes, apart from a temper inherited from his father, which he keeps mostly very good control over after GK, he's a solid reliable and likeable guy. He just isn't equipped to handle the fiendishly complex life that L has been handed.
aug 27, 2025, 12:20 am • 1 0 • view
He’s made his identity into the (mostly) stable one. It’s really all that’s available to him, to be sure, but he tends to come out the worse when L is on a tear or in a mess.
aug 27, 2025, 12:29 am • 0 0 • view
Like you I remember feeling an emptiness and horror on my first read of this, but by god once you start to see the many layers it raises appreciation of Dorothy's genius to new heights.
aug 27, 2025, 12:15 am • 1 0 • view