Get in touch!

Rarely Asked Questions:

"... Are you really making a site about a show from-"

"What's your goal with this?"

If I'm lucky, it'll put me in touch with a new friend to nerd out about fan theories and maybe share fanfics. If I'm really lucky, multiple people like that.

Realistically, I'm setting this up for the next person that's in my boots: someone who weirdly remembered this show, fell weirdly back into it (hard), and weirdly can't find anything about it online. There's some stuff right now on AO3 and Fanfiction.net, but I remember there used to be other early-2000s websites about it too. Those are hard to stumble across.

There was one in particular that gave a grade for all the ships with Deirdre, and I remember her reasoning so, so fondly (agreed with Ivar getting an A, disagreed with Angus getting a D, agreed with the show pushing Rohan flatly and pushing Garrett a little less flatly). I can't find that site anymore (update: found it 💖). I'm assuming it got deleted over time, which sucks 'cause she had a fanfic about Ivar's sister coming to Kells. I don't really remember that, and I only skimmed it because I was in my 'snobby about OCs' phase, but I wish I could find it now. Not enough other Black fans in any fandom, least of all in one that's so ancient and apparently obscure.

Same for old Tumblr blogs. I wasn't on Tumblr back then - I was in my 'I'm on Cracked/Reddit so I'm snobby about Tumblr' phase - but I did run into an Angus/Deirdre blog that's gone now too, sadly. All that stuff, all those fans... :(

So this is me shooting a Golden Record into the abyss of internet-space: I'm not holding my breath that any hardcore fans will find it (or exist), but if they do, they'll have another fan's rambling and analysis to keep them company. :) That's especially true if someone stops by after I've already switched focus to something else. Who's gonna be there for them then? Past-Tartra, that's who. It's what I would've wanted to find for myself but couldn't.

... and then like maybe one of the actors finds this and goes "oh that's neat, let me read it, wow this is so charming and definitely not weird." maybe they look at the questions i very badly want them to answer and are like "sure here's the answer for you, gee i can't believe someone cares about my early work enough to notice and ask such an insightful question." maybe they're like "omg i was actually always a massive fan of this show but i felt silly talking about it 'cause it was for kids and i was on it" and then we talk about it and agree it's fucking awesome and we're best friends and we hang out and plot a hypothetical second season - idk, it's a hypothetical, no one's gotta make it a big deal

"So you're on Tumblr, huh?"

"How old are you, exactly...?"

It's October 2024, so I'm 34 years old. And a half uwu

"... And why do you like this show?"

'Cause it's awesome - what do you want from me?

It's a kids' show. I'm waaaay out of the target demographic if I was stumbling onto it now. But I watched it when I was eight and I still have fond memories, so as an adult, I can see the potential for building on those bones. I'm out here slapping it into a whole new experience: angst where there wasn't angst, PG-13 drama and murder and intrigue, the real horrors of war, grief, Game of Thrones-y plot, picking a character and saying, "lol you're evil now, let's see how the others react," and a bunch of funny shit 'cause I finally appreciate how hilarious King Fin Varra was. Obviously I'm doing the heavy lifting here, but there's so much I can draw from that only exists in my mind because the show existed as it was.

So I love adding nuance. I love reading too far into unintended implications. I love drawing messy conclusions or revealing tragic origins for things happening off-screen or earlier in the characters' histories. It's a fun, compelling puzzle, and it's had me locked in it for a solid year now. Possibly a year and a half. I just keep coming back to it over and over.

"..."

...

"But why-"

'Cause Angus is hot, okay?

That's the reason I liked the show in the first place: eight-year-old me went, "ooh he's cute, i'm gonna stare at him," and twenty-ish years later, I still stand absolutely by that. She had great taste. And the first time I rewatched the show to check if my memory was right, I was nervous, but I confirmed young-me doesn't miss. Then I went to check what the guy looks like today and based on his IMDb, I'm Still. Winning.

"So you just want to talk about how hot the actor is?"

No, I don't want to talk about how hot the actor is. I already know that. He knows that. The show itself cast him so they could acknowledge it on a weirdly (but appreciated) regular basis. No one's confused.

... but like idk if you want to talk about how hot the character is to every other character and maybe make it relevant to some sort of plot where we kick up a fight among the others, brew some jealousy, deeply wonder about how hilarious it'd be if he'd ever hooked up with Maeve then found out 'oops that's my best friend's mom' - yeah, I'd be down if you're down.

uwu

"What do you ship?"

Honestly? My favourite thing is the friendship Angus and Rohan have. Love it, love imagining how much they had to rely on each other as kids, love having that get taken for granted now that they're older, love throwing something else in the mix to make one of them think their friendship is taking on any sort of water... Just love it. Love almost ruining it purely so they come back stronger at the end. And I love seeing how it affects Cathbad's opinion of Angus too, since these two've been a package deal for most of their combined life.

And then after that, basically everyone with everyone.

"Everyone?"

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Everyone.

"I don't get it. What does 'everyone' mean?"

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

But in PG-13-ish terms. Let's not get carried away; this still is a kids' show uwu

The operative word here is 'basically.' I can pretty much get on board with any ship by finding some angle to like about it. I'll have ideas where I've paired/grouped people together that fully contradict what I had set up the day before, too. So even though ten seconds of looking around will make it obvious what I find the most compelling, I'm open to chit-chatting about whatever. Individual character analyses are top-tier content to me.

"I'm a fan! I have a fan-site! Can you link yours to mine?"

HELL YEAH I CAN, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT, LET'S BRING BACK THE CATHABAD'S CHAMBER WEBRING FROM 1999

"You seem hung up on Angus not being in the second season."

It's for comedic effect. I don't care.

Don't tell nine-year-old me I said that. She's nuts. She's dying on this hill and taking us with her, and you know she's serious 'cause she's that hyped and didn't even watch the last episode when it aired. I got to it when I was like 30, and went, "wtf Maeve turns into Baroness Vashj?" I didn't even remember Lugad when some other stuff started to mention him. They said he was Rohan's brother and I was like, "Rohan had a brother?!" Then I saw a pic and was like, "who tf is this yellow guy??!! What's happening????!!!!! When was this on TV?????????"

So yeah - little-me was not paying attention to a goddamn thing that wasn't Angus.

Oh my God.

I was just like Aideen fr fr u_u