Pritchard - Blog Posts

Will wonders at first why Halt is so adamant on them both having a very diverse and inclusive diet. Then Crowley tells him about Halt's vastly changed lifestyle after learning he had a vitamin deficiency. Will stops questioning why Halt is so insistent on a diverse pallet.

Also, I like to imagine that he was really low on iron too, so not only was he exhausted all the time from the B12 deficiency, but he'd pass tf out every time he stood up too fast. This ofc didn't help his parent's view of him and made him doubt himself whenever Pritchard started training him. After all, why would this cool woodsman from Araluen who apparently served the king in a secret society of archers or whatever want to train a skinny boy who couldn't even stand without his vision going black and the world shifting beneath his feet? Clearly there were better people for this

Then Pritchard started feeding him foods high in iron after recognizing the signs and his symptoms started going away and oh my gods is this what normal people live like????

I like to think his vitamin/iron deficiencies are partially due to genetics and metabolism, and partially due to Bad Textures with a lot of the food served at the castle. He feels shitty for complaining, but something about how they prepare a lot of the food (particularly the meat) is just Awful and Terrible and makes him feel physically ill. But again, Pritchard to the rescue to save Halt's "fae touched" *cough cough* AUTISTIC *cough cough* ass from Gross And Bad Textures That Make Him Want To Swallow A Lit Torch

Random little Halt headcanon I had for you guys.

So we all know how in Ruins of Gorlan Will's first impression of Halt is that is is 'old, scary and might kill me' right?

Another well known fact is that if you do the math for this series (which I 100% recommend you don't and instead spend all of your time ignoring both the timeline and character's ages) that Halt can't be older than 35.

Well this got me thinking how on earth does he have salt and pepper hair while being 35? And while yes I do know of people who start greying in their early 20's because of genes and stuff but like that is to boring for my hyperactive brain.

What you may or may not know is that vitamin B12 affects hair greying and pigmentation (at least I think this is in no way a total fact) so what if Halt was just really deficient in vitamin B12?

I don't know how they would've figured this out in medieval times and with their limited knowledge of medicine and stuff but just roll with me here.

Being deficient in B12 also can lead to mood swings and chronic tiredness so i like to think that during his childhood in Dun Kilty Halt was just always grumpy and tired but then he met Pritchard and Crowley and they were like 'you do realise this is because of a vitamin deficiency right?'

Obviously they helped him get sorted out or whatever and I for the first time in his live he felt what it was like to not be extremely tired ALL THE TIME and it was the most comical thing ever! Like his whole face probably lit up and he was like "I feel alive!?"

I love the idea that this was a really popular campfire story for several years and also the story the renegade rangers told Gilan and Will when they first became apprentices mainly to explain that no, halt is not old just vitamin deficient.

It was a whole thing when Will became an apprentice because Gilan kept telling him that all of Halt's grey hairs were because Gilan stressed him out so much during his apprenticeship (Something he would've been VERY proud of were it true) but Crowley stepped in and told him the truth.

Here's chapter 2 my little squidlings, feast, for I have attempted to provide a bountiful harvest

Pspsps RA fans, come get your content!!!

I found is two part one-shot collection in my WIPs and decided to stop holding them hostage as they've been there for months. I'll post the second one in the next few minutes, and I'll probably add to this in the future, but I have to wait for inspiration to attack, so it might be a while. Figured I'd just put these out while I was thinking about it.

Hope you guys enjoy!

ALSO, TW for discussion of child abuse (I mean, it's angst/hurt/comfort about Halt, so it's kind of a given at this point)

Can we just take a moment to realize just how screwed up Halt's apprenticeship was?

First things first, the fact that it was probably only about 2.5 years at most. According to timelines that I have seen worked out by others, and have worked out myself, Halt probably would have been a few months after his 15th birthday when he met Pritchard, and it's pretty bold to assume that they started training together the day they met. When Halt left Clonmel, he said he was around 17 and a half, so that's maybe 2 years of training. Not to mention the fact that he wasn't even living with Pritchard at the time and was also learning how to rule a country. He probably didn't receive much one-on-one training from the renegade rangers, but I could believe that Pritchard picked up the slack again once they met up. But then Pritchard dies. And then Halt gets his silver oak leaf.

what.

But wait, there's more! Not only did Halt receive absolute minimal training time, but he didn't have the proper equipment either. TEY talks about how the only proper equipment he had was a bow, and that everything else was pretty much jury rigged (like his double scabbard). He didn't even get to start training with a proper ranger horse until months after the very end of his official training. He most likely had to practice with either the closest equivalents to ranger tools or Pritchard's sets.

When you really think about it, Halt probably had to learn most of his skills on the job without backup in Redmont.

But, it gets worse.

You may say, "But Void, how can it get any worse?" and I'll tell you.

There are a few events whose timelines have to be adjusted due to Flagagank's inability to remember his own character's ages (*cough cough* Halt's time with the Temujai *cough cough*), and this means that a lot of the really important missions that Halt was sent on early in his career that are mentioned throughout the books - such as stealing the Temujai horses and taking down whoever that one guy with the mace was - all took place as Halt was still trying to make up for the gap in his training.

Let's put a little perspective on it.

Imagine Will for a minute. Now imagine that he didn't start his training for a good 6 months after Choosing Day, and that he didn't live with Halt, but rather with Baron Arald. At the same time he's training with Halt, he's learning how to do Arald's job, while also fending off assassination attempts. Now, a little under halfway through Will's training, make him leave the country and shove him into an active war situation. He and Halt don't get to meet up until about a year later. Then a few months after that, Halt gets McFucking Murdered. Then, make Will a full-fledged ranger and assign him to a fief.

That's exactly what happened to Halt.

Bro.

It's no wonder he's always so hard on his apprentices. Man has no idea what a normal apprenticeship looks like, he was making shit up as he went

Edit: I think Tumblr ate my posts, so we're trying again to see how it goes