Making baby heirs...He gets to live the cush life with, apparently, no responsibilities. I keep thinking of him without a tie at the jubilee, the Queen's sidekick. What's his back story? Gambling? A mistress? Collecting Barbies? Thanks for the appetizer.
Hi! I have also been thinking about why he's not wearing a tie at the jubilee. And in addition why is his title Duke. In real life monarchy the non-existing tie at an event like that would likely raise some eyebrows. And I can't think of any nordic royalty who is a duke in this position, rather than a prince (e.g. the late prince Henrik of Denmark). Could there be a reason for these to real life discrepancies?
This is a very good point! In real life Sweden, he would be a "prinsgemål", and would also be a duke if he married Kristina before she was crowned. But he would certainly not be referred to as "duke Ludvig", since it has lower standing than prinsgemål. It seems significant that they chose to call him duke, to lower his status. And then they further emphasize this by showing him without a tie at a formal event.
Great comments. Love Florence's find about the trophy husband. Great catch.
@ Silva Grey, the absence of Ludvig's tie at the jubilee has also bugged me for a while. I agree with you. Why would Ludvig wear a tie at the intimate dinner with his wife and his son the evening before and drop it at this super important formal event ? And when Wille comes out, Jan-Olof and the queen are on maximum alert and try to get the journalists to stop filming whereas Ludwig doesn't really budge (even if, in general, he seems to be a passive guy). He hungs his head down and looks at his hands. If there are parallels between Ludvig and Wilhelm, he offers him a piece of advice on how to lie and do PR, I think that there can also be a parallel between them here. They both go off scripts in their own way. The tie and the upper button of the shirt prevent Wilhelm from breathing and from finding his voice in the scene with the tailor. And here, when Wilhelm, in his first official televised speech as a crown prince finds his voice and is able to be authentic, Ludvig drops his tie and the last button of his shirt is undone. It's like Wilhelm's little act of rebellion also frees him a little bit and gives him more space to breathe by himself ? Or does he just kind of "mirror" Wilhelm here and it does not affect his character ? I am super eager to see the evolution of the character. Will Ludvig also be able to find a bit of his voice in S3 ?
In my attempt to get an understanding of all YR characters, Ludvig made me just scratch my befuddled head. Yes, he is just like a “cardboard cutout”, but there has to be more, right? He can’t just be the approved sperm donor? After each line of his dialogue, I found myself saying, “Well, that was really helpful.” Yes, insert sarcasm. Another thought was that he was clueless as to how to help with Wilhelm and his struggles. Then I also thought, he of all characters should understand the sacrifices to personal autonomy demanded of Wilhelm. He is the dutiful Prince Consort, a master at playing his role, keeping up appearances, and choking down any of his own personality. He walks behind his wife and now even his son. Both, he and Eric, seemed resigned to the roles they were required to play. Is Ludvig a cautionary tale or is he supposed to be as clueless as he is written? Now to rewatch his scenes with an eye open for the subtext. Again there is a throw away line that is so easy to miss. We hear the line right before Wilhelm gives his denial interview. As Wilhelm walks towards the interviewer we hear Kristina ask a question. Ludvig is there with her and they go off camera. Kristina asks, “What do you think about this one if he takes this one?”. The reply, assuming it is Ludvig she is asking, is just, “man talking indistinctly.” His response not shared. Was the response unnecessary to the scene or was it that Ludvig’s response, specifically, was unimportant to Kristina and the royal court. What was the question about? The monarchy’s response to Wilhelm’s statement would be my best guess. At that point they didn’t know what he might say in the interview. He ends up playing his role rather than telling the truth. Wilhelm gives into the Queen’s pressure. He then followed his father’s earlier advise to learn to lie convincingly., as MYV explained in this post. Unsavory hidden private business, do tell MYV!
Is Ludvig an alternate future for Wilhelm, staying in emotional lockdown and lying as a coping mechanism? Wilhelm can't to that. He just can't when touched by the magic wand of love. Love emboldens him to tell the truth about himself. The comment Ludvig makes about Wilhelm going back to Hillerska was acutely painful to watch. His brother is dead, school is a minefield. Ludvig doesn't even leave the table after Kristina gets up after spitting into her napkin, clearly losing, it to go and support her. Wilhelm could compartmentalize his life (as Erik seemed to be able to do) as his father has done. We know he won't.
Ooookay, I'm finally through this veritable horse of a text. (Took me long enough. We're at 55 pages now – even though I actually cut 4 pages. How is that even possible?)
But it's the middle of the night now, so I'm going to bed. I will upload it to substack tomorrow (the images alone take a lot of time to get right, to be honest).
In any case, looks like tomorrow will be the big day: The day of the horse!
Thank you for your patience, guys. I hope the text is worth the wait.
All the best!
Yours,
tvmicroscope
And you'll instantly know I'm really knackered when I tell you that I just almost signed this 'Rousseau'. (Delusions of grandeur? Or my transformation into an equine entity? Or just plain exhaustion? You decide...)
LOL, when working with my thesis advisor, he told me he would be so tired after hours of writing, he'd forget how to spell his own name. Maybe you have actually been transformed into Rousseau and therefore, we'll put a pretty blanket on you and lead you into a nice clean stall. Sleep well.
I know exactly what your thesis advisor meant. Like...exactly.
And yay, it's finally posted. The horse one was like a blood-sweat-and-tears exercise, I swear. No idea why it was so hard to write and edit, but I'm just so relieved right now I can finally let it go.
Je me pose une question pourquoi ce prénom Ludvig ?
Serait-ce une référence au génial Ludwig van Beethoven ? Bien sûr ici, aucune corrélation avec ce musicien virtuose, sauf la surdité, ainsi peut-on imaginer que le père de Wilhelm n’a pas de cœur ? (Oreille) ni la notion d’amour ? (Musique) Il est tellement insipide qu’aucune émotion ne transparaît chez lui lors du décès de son fils aîné (flouté)ou la diffusion de la vidéo par exemple (absent).
C’est comme la reine Kristina, cela ne doit pas être un hasard ce prénom, certainement une référence à la reine Christine de Suède fille chérie du roi Gustave II (ah autre prénom intéressant) qui pour la protéger la nomma « roi de Suède » et non reine.
D’ailleurs elle fit le choix de ne jamais se marier et par conséquent de n’avoir aucune descendance.
La mère de Wilhelm nous parle toujours avec beaucoup de tendresse de son cher « papa ».
En ce qui concerne le trophée, bien vu, mon côté romantique y voit un Wilhelm vainqueur pour son histoire d’amour avec Simon (et oui j’ai deux oreilles en parfait état).
C'est intéressant. Merci. On s'est plusieurs fois posé la question avec d'autres fans de la série sans arriver à quoi que ce soit de conclusif. J'aime bien la ref. avec Beethoven et la métaphore de l'oreille, de la surdité etc. Mais même sourd, Beethoven entendait tout de même intérieurement la musique et était tout de même capable de la jouer, non ? Je ne connais pas de manière experte la vie de Beethoven, en même temps. Je penserai plutôt aux rois français, Louis XVI qui s'est fait décapiter puisqu'on a une référence dans la série à Marie Antoinette qui s'est fait décapiter. La lignée morphe avec l'arrivée du bébé de Sarah et la royauté héréditaire cesse pour ainsi dire, même si le bébé, indirectement via Auguste a toujours du sang noble. PS, est-ce que tu es "margot dans les bois" de Tumblr ?
Beethoven pouvait composer grâce aux vibrations qu'il ressentait sur le sol.
En ce qui concerne Louis XVI aucun rapport, c'était un père aimant qui a enseigné à ses enfants : la géographie et l'astronomie, avec le dauphin il élevait des lapins dans le Hameau de Marie-Antoinette, dans les jardins de Trianon.
Pour la lignée, la famille royale, actuelle, descend du général Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, ce dernier a été élu prince héritier de Suède suite à un défaut d'héritier, peux t'on supposer que le "bébé" connaisse lui aussi une élection ?
Pour information, je ne suis pas "margot dans les bois" de Tumblr.
Oui mais on a plein de ref. à la France (T-shirt rose de Sara avec marqué France dessus, Rousseau, aller manger du pain à Paris (dialogue de Nils et Vincent), Marie-Antoinette qui s'est fait décapiter (rappelé par Sara). Après, je ne sais pas si pour les noms des rois, ils iraient chercher ailleurs que dans l'histoire suédoise. Pour l'image de Louis XVI que tu rappelles, cela fait penser au personnage du roi dans la série de Netflix, La Reine Charlotte. Il aimait aussi l'astronomie, était présenté comme un agronome, un fermier, un homme proche de la nature etc.
Entre la Suède et la France il y a des liens très concrets, l'histoire de Marie-Antoinette (ici c'est la reine qui est concerné pas le roi) et Fersen, la reine Christine qui vécu en France après son abdication, Bernadotte était français.
C'est vrai que Louis XVI a des points communs avec le roi Georges.
I am stuck on the scene with Ludvig in E1 with Wille is getting his makeup on. Ludvig is in the center of the image. The image is clearly and beautifully framed with the lighting and grouping - it reminds me of a painting, but I don't know which one. The other person at the table is Minou, who is it in all white unlike everyone else in dark colors AND her computer screen is lighting her up. Then the next scene we see she is pregnant. Does Ludvig and Minou being the only ones at the table signify something between them? I feel like I am missing a piece of information or how to read subtext. What am I missing? And thank you as always for your insight.
Yes! The tropyy husband.
Making baby heirs...He gets to live the cush life with, apparently, no responsibilities. I keep thinking of him without a tie at the jubilee, the Queen's sidekick. What's his back story? Gambling? A mistress? Collecting Barbies? Thanks for the appetizer.
Barbies for sure. 😜
Hi! I have also been thinking about why he's not wearing a tie at the jubilee. And in addition why is his title Duke. In real life monarchy the non-existing tie at an event like that would likely raise some eyebrows. And I can't think of any nordic royalty who is a duke in this position, rather than a prince (e.g. the late prince Henrik of Denmark). Could there be a reason for these to real life discrepancies?
This is a very good point! In real life Sweden, he would be a "prinsgemål", and would also be a duke if he married Kristina before she was crowned. But he would certainly not be referred to as "duke Ludvig", since it has lower standing than prinsgemål. It seems significant that they chose to call him duke, to lower his status. And then they further emphasize this by showing him without a tie at a formal event.
Good catch!!
Great comments. Love Florence's find about the trophy husband. Great catch.
@ Silva Grey, the absence of Ludvig's tie at the jubilee has also bugged me for a while. I agree with you. Why would Ludvig wear a tie at the intimate dinner with his wife and his son the evening before and drop it at this super important formal event ? And when Wille comes out, Jan-Olof and the queen are on maximum alert and try to get the journalists to stop filming whereas Ludwig doesn't really budge (even if, in general, he seems to be a passive guy). He hungs his head down and looks at his hands. If there are parallels between Ludvig and Wilhelm, he offers him a piece of advice on how to lie and do PR, I think that there can also be a parallel between them here. They both go off scripts in their own way. The tie and the upper button of the shirt prevent Wilhelm from breathing and from finding his voice in the scene with the tailor. And here, when Wilhelm, in his first official televised speech as a crown prince finds his voice and is able to be authentic, Ludvig drops his tie and the last button of his shirt is undone. It's like Wilhelm's little act of rebellion also frees him a little bit and gives him more space to breathe by himself ? Or does he just kind of "mirror" Wilhelm here and it does not affect his character ? I am super eager to see the evolution of the character. Will Ludvig also be able to find a bit of his voice in S3 ?
In my attempt to get an understanding of all YR characters, Ludvig made me just scratch my befuddled head. Yes, he is just like a “cardboard cutout”, but there has to be more, right? He can’t just be the approved sperm donor? After each line of his dialogue, I found myself saying, “Well, that was really helpful.” Yes, insert sarcasm. Another thought was that he was clueless as to how to help with Wilhelm and his struggles. Then I also thought, he of all characters should understand the sacrifices to personal autonomy demanded of Wilhelm. He is the dutiful Prince Consort, a master at playing his role, keeping up appearances, and choking down any of his own personality. He walks behind his wife and now even his son. Both, he and Eric, seemed resigned to the roles they were required to play. Is Ludvig a cautionary tale or is he supposed to be as clueless as he is written? Now to rewatch his scenes with an eye open for the subtext. Again there is a throw away line that is so easy to miss. We hear the line right before Wilhelm gives his denial interview. As Wilhelm walks towards the interviewer we hear Kristina ask a question. Ludvig is there with her and they go off camera. Kristina asks, “What do you think about this one if he takes this one?”. The reply, assuming it is Ludvig she is asking, is just, “man talking indistinctly.” His response not shared. Was the response unnecessary to the scene or was it that Ludvig’s response, specifically, was unimportant to Kristina and the royal court. What was the question about? The monarchy’s response to Wilhelm’s statement would be my best guess. At that point they didn’t know what he might say in the interview. He ends up playing his role rather than telling the truth. Wilhelm gives into the Queen’s pressure. He then followed his father’s earlier advise to learn to lie convincingly., as MYV explained in this post. Unsavory hidden private business, do tell MYV!
Is Ludvig an alternate future for Wilhelm, staying in emotional lockdown and lying as a coping mechanism? Wilhelm can't to that. He just can't when touched by the magic wand of love. Love emboldens him to tell the truth about himself. The comment Ludvig makes about Wilhelm going back to Hillerska was acutely painful to watch. His brother is dead, school is a minefield. Ludvig doesn't even leave the table after Kristina gets up after spitting into her napkin, clearly losing, it to go and support her. Wilhelm could compartmentalize his life (as Erik seemed to be able to do) as his father has done. We know he won't.
Kristina spitting into her napkin, another example of spitting out something gross?
Ooookay, I'm finally through this veritable horse of a text. (Took me long enough. We're at 55 pages now – even though I actually cut 4 pages. How is that even possible?)
But it's the middle of the night now, so I'm going to bed. I will upload it to substack tomorrow (the images alone take a lot of time to get right, to be honest).
In any case, looks like tomorrow will be the big day: The day of the horse!
Thank you for your patience, guys. I hope the text is worth the wait.
All the best!
Yours,
tvmicroscope
And you'll instantly know I'm really knackered when I tell you that I just almost signed this 'Rousseau'. (Delusions of grandeur? Or my transformation into an equine entity? Or just plain exhaustion? You decide...)
LOL, when working with my thesis advisor, he told me he would be so tired after hours of writing, he'd forget how to spell his own name. Maybe you have actually been transformed into Rousseau and therefore, we'll put a pretty blanket on you and lead you into a nice clean stall. Sleep well.
I know exactly what your thesis advisor meant. Like...exactly.
And yay, it's finally posted. The horse one was like a blood-sweat-and-tears exercise, I swear. No idea why it was so hard to write and edit, but I'm just so relieved right now I can finally let it go.
I'll take that pretty blanket now, pretty please.
Je me pose une question pourquoi ce prénom Ludvig ?
Serait-ce une référence au génial Ludwig van Beethoven ? Bien sûr ici, aucune corrélation avec ce musicien virtuose, sauf la surdité, ainsi peut-on imaginer que le père de Wilhelm n’a pas de cœur ? (Oreille) ni la notion d’amour ? (Musique) Il est tellement insipide qu’aucune émotion ne transparaît chez lui lors du décès de son fils aîné (flouté)ou la diffusion de la vidéo par exemple (absent).
C’est comme la reine Kristina, cela ne doit pas être un hasard ce prénom, certainement une référence à la reine Christine de Suède fille chérie du roi Gustave II (ah autre prénom intéressant) qui pour la protéger la nomma « roi de Suède » et non reine.
D’ailleurs elle fit le choix de ne jamais se marier et par conséquent de n’avoir aucune descendance.
La mère de Wilhelm nous parle toujours avec beaucoup de tendresse de son cher « papa ».
En ce qui concerne le trophée, bien vu, mon côté romantique y voit un Wilhelm vainqueur pour son histoire d’amour avec Simon (et oui j’ai deux oreilles en parfait état).
C'est intéressant. Merci. On s'est plusieurs fois posé la question avec d'autres fans de la série sans arriver à quoi que ce soit de conclusif. J'aime bien la ref. avec Beethoven et la métaphore de l'oreille, de la surdité etc. Mais même sourd, Beethoven entendait tout de même intérieurement la musique et était tout de même capable de la jouer, non ? Je ne connais pas de manière experte la vie de Beethoven, en même temps. Je penserai plutôt aux rois français, Louis XVI qui s'est fait décapiter puisqu'on a une référence dans la série à Marie Antoinette qui s'est fait décapiter. La lignée morphe avec l'arrivée du bébé de Sarah et la royauté héréditaire cesse pour ainsi dire, même si le bébé, indirectement via Auguste a toujours du sang noble. PS, est-ce que tu es "margot dans les bois" de Tumblr ?
Beethoven pouvait composer grâce aux vibrations qu'il ressentait sur le sol.
En ce qui concerne Louis XVI aucun rapport, c'était un père aimant qui a enseigné à ses enfants : la géographie et l'astronomie, avec le dauphin il élevait des lapins dans le Hameau de Marie-Antoinette, dans les jardins de Trianon.
Pour la lignée, la famille royale, actuelle, descend du général Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, ce dernier a été élu prince héritier de Suède suite à un défaut d'héritier, peux t'on supposer que le "bébé" connaisse lui aussi une élection ?
Pour information, je ne suis pas "margot dans les bois" de Tumblr.
Oui mais on a plein de ref. à la France (T-shirt rose de Sara avec marqué France dessus, Rousseau, aller manger du pain à Paris (dialogue de Nils et Vincent), Marie-Antoinette qui s'est fait décapiter (rappelé par Sara). Après, je ne sais pas si pour les noms des rois, ils iraient chercher ailleurs que dans l'histoire suédoise. Pour l'image de Louis XVI que tu rappelles, cela fait penser au personnage du roi dans la série de Netflix, La Reine Charlotte. Il aimait aussi l'astronomie, était présenté comme un agronome, un fermier, un homme proche de la nature etc.
Entre la Suède et la France il y a des liens très concrets, l'histoire de Marie-Antoinette (ici c'est la reine qui est concerné pas le roi) et Fersen, la reine Christine qui vécu en France après son abdication, Bernadotte était français.
C'est vrai que Louis XVI a des points communs avec le roi Georges.
Fersen ? PS, si tu ne parles pas en anglais sur ce blog, pas sûre que les autres puissent suivre et répondre au dialogue.
Hans Axel von Fersen le comte suédois ami de Marie-Antoinette qui participa à la fuite de Varennes pour sauver la famille royale
But it's the France Sweden link, just kidding I'll make an effort next time.
I am stuck on the scene with Ludvig in E1 with Wille is getting his makeup on. Ludvig is in the center of the image. The image is clearly and beautifully framed with the lighting and grouping - it reminds me of a painting, but I don't know which one. The other person at the table is Minou, who is it in all white unlike everyone else in dark colors AND her computer screen is lighting her up. Then the next scene we see she is pregnant. Does Ludvig and Minou being the only ones at the table signify something between them? I feel like I am missing a piece of information or how to read subtext. What am I missing? And thank you as always for your insight.