multishipper001

[multishipper001]

did i tell u guys i got into an argument on twitter bc i said foxes are dogs and someone tried to bring up their actual fuckin. classification or whatever and i just said “foxes are dogs cause they are fluffye” and they kept arguing with me. the entire time i was like “you will not survive the immigration to tumblr you are lucky we are not there right now”

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I absolutely adore how normal Clark's parents looked so normal. I realize the ideal of them is a strong farmer and his wife and that might be a beautiful older woman and her sturdy handsome husband. Nothing wrong with that. But Martha and Jonathan Kent in this movie were the kind of older couple I'd see at the grocery store in my own small-town. The kind of people at the community hall and auction grounds picking up hay bales for the cattle.

They were warm and just so normal it almost surprises you. They also don't resemble Clark at all which I think is important in driving home the fact that they aren't his biological parents. He stands out amongst them it's so clear he's different and special even. And my god do they love him.

The way they call for him and sit on a rusty bench outside the creaky screen door. That feels like home to me having grown up on the prairies. How authentic they feel only grounds Clark even more. It feels less like a dream or idea of a perfect farm family and is more two people who tried their best and will bake apple pie with calloused hands full of love

[multishipper001]

Thank you so much for being such an inspiration- if you possibly have the time to write how you are able to create villains who aren’t black and white- who are definitely “evil” in that they cause purposeful pain but aren’t the cheesy Mwahaha villains that don’t have motivation. Again, thank you so much!

I've done various posts on writing advice before which might help, if you want to check my general writing advice tags. For example, I talk about internal vs external motivation, how to write morally grey characters and how to write threats, among other things.

Now for your question:

So the basic function of a villain in a story is often to be an obstacle between your hero/protagonist and their goal. To me, cheesy characters often therefore happen because they are non-specific with generic goals, over-exaggerated and/or the villain is written primarily to serve this narrative function rather than as a character in their own right.

E.g. you know you want your hero to save the city, so you make a villain who wants to destroy the city but don't really dig into why.

Foils and mirrors

One of my favourite quick character creation tips is that I love writing my protagonist/antagonist or hero/villain as a set.

I like using character foils (how do their differences tell you more about each character through compare and contrast?) and character mirrors (how do their similarities tell you more about each character through compare and contrast?)

As a brief example, I have a story called For Kingdom, Come that follows two enemy princes.

Leo (protagonist) is obsessed with etiquette, fairness and doing the right thing. Magnus (antagonist) believes etiquette is a waste of time and that it's more important to get what you want/need by any means necessary. In this sense, their value and characters are foiled by being in direct contrast with each other. This contrast gives you an organic (non forced) source of conflict in the story because they approach situations in very different ways. However, they are also mirrored in that they are both princes who care very deeply for their kingdoms and are ultimately motivated by protecting their people.

If you know what your protagonist is like, then you can build a more realistic villain by pairing with them. You can use whatever personality traits you want for this, but a balance of flaws and strengths will help make sure that both are three-dimensional and fleshed out.

This will also help make sure your villain fits your story.

Motivations

As a simplified starting point, I like to broadly categorise with:

Good motivation, good actions (doing the right thing for the right reasons; e.g. to protect the people I love I'm going to fight the evil corporation.) This is your quintessential hero.

Good motivation, bad actions (your motivation might be very relatable and reasonable, but the way you are going about it causes a lot of harm. e.g. to protect the people I love I'm going to lock them away in a tower where I believe nothing can hurt them)

Bad motivation, good actions (doing the right thing for the wrong reason. E.g. I'll fight the evil corporation because you're paying me to, if you stop paying me or they make a better offer, I'll switch teams.)

Bad motivation, bad actions (doing the wrong thing for selfish/cruel/evil reasons.) E.g. I hate all living things and want them out.) This is your quintessential villain.

You're most likely going to run into a cheesy villain with bad motivation, bad actions. This doesn't mean that these villains are inherently worse than other types, just that your reader is less likely to relate to them and it's harder to get a complex character because there's no tension there.

Let's dig a bit deeper to think of emotions.

Picture a character who is scared of something. What is their reaction to this fear? To go back to foils and mirrors, your protagonist overcomes their fear or tries to be kind or brave despite the terror. Your villain lashes out, or takes the cowardly route out, or will do anything to avoid facing whatever it is that they fear. The starting emotion is the same but you get very different character arcs and personalities.

Providing the fear your villain is failing to overcome is reasonable, this gives you an instantly more human villain who isn't just a muhaha stereotype of 'I like hurting people for no reason'.

You can do the same with any other emotions that is driving your characters at any given time.

Villainous goals and violence

You mentioned characters who purposefully cause pain. Plenty of non-villains do that in stories (think of any revenge narrative.) The difference kicks in when we think that violence is justified and/or an appropriate response.

E.g. punch someone because they cut in front of you in the coffee line is inappropriate purposeful violence and we will think that person is monstrous/bad, whereas punch someone because they're trying to kill you is broadly considered acceptable non-villainous purposeful violence.

(We're back to the whole good motivation/bad outcome situation etc, get as complicated with your mix ups as you like.)

TL;DR: The key take-away is tension between what's 'good' and what's 'bad'.

[multishipper001]

i hate when rich people condescend with the whole 'money can't buy happiness' argument like listen. just because buying your fourth car didn't fill the void in your deluded disconnected-from-reality life doesn't mean not having to worry about food/ bills/medicine wouldn't greatly improve the mental health of literally everyone else on the planet

[multishipper001]

Translating Grishaverse names to their English version because I want non-Slavic people to cringe too.

Alina Starkov - Alina, grandson of Stark

Malyan Oretsev - Small, grandson of Orets

Genya Safin - (Eu)Gene, grandson of Saf

Nikolai Lantsov - Nicolac, grandson of Golden-chain-necklace

Alexander Morozova - Alexander, granddaughter of Cold

David Kostyk - David, grandson of Bone

Nadia Zhabin - Nadia, grandson of Frog

Vasiliy Lantsov - Vasilius, grandson of Golden-chain-necklace (Vasilius means High priest in Greek)

Tatiana Lantsov - Tatiana, grandson of Golden-chain-necklace

Ilya Morozova - Elijah, granddaughter of Cold

Baghra - Colour

I hope you didn't enjoy this too

[multishipper001]

Alternate Shadow and Bone idea: The sun summoner turns out to be an old lady from a quiet village, who sensing she didn't have long left to live, hired a skiff and decided to brave the journey through the Fold in hopes of seeing her estranged extended family on the other side. When the volcra attacked, her fear set her power free, which until then she was ignorant of because it only came out as burning things when she got frustrated with cooking. Because of lack of education in commoners, she too considered Grisha abnormal witches until she was taken to the palace by the extremely disappointed Darkling. She sees the Grisha children, orphaned, hunted and abused for existing anywhere else, the Darkling running around to keep the country from collapsing while the King sits on his ass and decides to do something worthy since she has practically waned away her whole life anyway.

Her training progresses slowly because of her age and not because "wahh, I can't live without Mal for a month". Also because she and Baghra have the biggest old lady beef and bicker all the time. She's a better mother figure to Aleksander than Baghra. Kills the stag with zero hesitation because she had to butcher animals and store the meat for long winters. Has beef with the Apparat as well and tells the brainwashed children that he gathered in a cult to wise up and go get a life. Doesn't blame Genya for doing what she had to to survive and doesn't guilt trip her to take her side. She understands because her parents married her off when she was young, fortunately her bastard of a husband died soon after. Becomes friends with Ivan because paranoid Darkling assigned him to keep her heartbeat and blood pressure in check, so the old sun summoner won't randomly die. Is not impressed with Nikolai when he comes back to Ravka at all. In her opinion, everybody has done more for Ravka than him and he doesn't get to swoop in, decide he wants to be King and take all the credit.

Ending: Either gives her powers up because she's old and tired of life or leaves after things settle down, continues living for centuries as a healthy old woman because of her powers and becomes a local legend like Baba Yaga. She and Aleksander keep in touch, he comes over for tea, пирог (pie) and advice.

[multishipper001]

Something that irks me about Zoya and her sudden Suli heritage is that her entire "background" regarding her being a part of a minority — which, let's be honest, feels like it's been slapped under her name for pity points — wasn't built up to be relatable to her.

We know about most of the shit that Suli people have gone through because of Inej and her properly built-up background as a part of said minority. Not a passing comment, not a sob story but something that's part of her identity, had been clarified from the beginning and visibly affects the character.

Now what about Zoya?

She was most probably written as a filler "mean girl" background character in the original trilogy. She was shallow, mean, prejudical and jealous, acting like an entitled rich kid throwing tantrums whenever she went, thinking she has the right to treat others like dirt because she happens to be a strong grisha.

This was her. A bully. Someone that wasn't redeemed in the reader's eyes, no matter how close the author attempted to bring her character to the audience (see comments about her being a "wise mentor" to Nina and such bullshit... Which we weren't shown, only told). And you know, that was fine. I get it, Bardugo wanted to turn back to her beloved Grishaverse, and chose an already existing character from her famous series... But for the love of God, anyone, literally ANYONE would've been a better choice than her!

The last series with her felt like a cheap ripoff of a famous series: while shadow and bone has and six of crows too had their flaws, they were popular and famous series: it was the easy way out, the cheap solution, from the author to bring back old characters in cameo so the readers will pick up her books with the hope of seeing their beloved characters back.

It was plain cowardice. For her not to properly flesh out her characters, to patch up the plotholes with fucking nonsense, to not dare bring in a new character for either Zoya or Nikolai's love interest if she's so hell-bent on giving them one...

Instead, we got the written equivalent of mismatched puzzle pieces forced together into a total mess.

I'm sad and bitter because I really liked the crows and would've loved to read more about them all, and Nikolai's character too could've been even more fleshed out, now that he gets to become a main character.

Hell, even Zoya —and keep in mind that I've been her biggest hater ever since she first made an appearance in the first book — even she could've gotten a somewhat "redemption arc", a chance to flesh out her character and make her change and better herself, an important thing to do for a main character the readers are SUPPOSED TO root for.

Instead, we got the Temu version: boo-hoo, Zoya is actually just Misunderstood™ and a Tragic Heroine™ who is only a rude bitch because she's been suffering, oh no! Alexa play some sad violin solo in the background for maximum emotions :'((

So yeah, her sad and tragic background was full of shit, and without Inej's examples of what atrocities the Suli tribes go through, her suddenly revealed heritage wouldn't mean shit — because it wasn't made for her, and she made no effort to actually fit into the role she was supposed to be in.

[multishipper001]

If you think I won't joke about the difference in their heights, then you don't know me very well

For me, a conditional 5 cm difference in their height is enough, seriously

[multishipper001]

the darkling had a lot of repetitive phrases he used when he was manipulating people. this has been said before, but he says “you and i are going to change the world.” a LOT. like bro please get a new line we’re all tired of your bullshit he also uses the argument of grisha aging against people. he points out to alina that she’ll outlive mal, and points out to nikolai that zoya will outlive him. in both of these situations, he wanted the couples separated. he kept scaring them by making them think of losing each other. and idk i think that’s interesting.

i didn’t even like darklina in the beginning of the first book 1) age difference(he states he super old at the start, the worst part is he’s MUCH older than the age he lies about)2) he was being all mysterious and vague about how the little palace and grisha fit into alina’s life3) he seemed to be avoiding confrontation from alina when she asked him questions. ik that’s mostly because he was lying out of his ass but he was still leaving alina guessing pointlessly in the dark and let alina feel like an outsider. he was giving ALL the red flags even at the very start . But seriously, the two interacted a tiny bit in the first book (and that ended with him stealing her power and taking ownership of her), barely at all in the second, (and even that was just a whole lot of the Darkling being a creep and stalking on her, giving her mental trauma) and a tiny bit more in the third. (In which the Darkling killed several of her loved ones, destroyed her childhood home, and in turn, Alina killed him)

Just wanna say I'm not Anti darklina. I just want to khnow what do you think about this stupid fans :)))

Before I start, I want you to know that I'm staunchly anti-darklina and not for the reasons you think.

I hate Alina as a character and I believe the Darkling deserves a better partner than that village idiot. So don't expect any sympathies from me for her or for her 'trauma'. S&B is a chosen one trope and Alina is a stagnant protagonist. She had no thoughts beside Mal for THREE WHOLE BOOKS. And before you pile on me screaming, 'She's a teenager!', I'd like to point out that so was Katniss, Harry, Hermione, Percy and several other YA protagonists and they all did remarkably well in their quests. Where as Alina is a boring, judgmental and doormat of a character with air between her ears. So no, she's not going to receive any grace from me.

Now repeating phrases is a crime? Did Nikolai not have one? or did you forget about 'When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.' or 'I love it when you quote me.'. I believe even Kaz had one. Somehow it's just a problem when the Darkling does it; that too he did like TWICE and to two people.

Besides, this whole, Zoya was also conveniently manipulated by the evil villain and was a victim too, was one of the most BS thing LB had ever written. And please, don't pretend like LB doesn't retcon her own stories. Eg. Genya's power was so rare in Book 1 that no one could do what she does till LB needed someone to disguise Nikolai. Suddenly, the Bataar twins could do it too. And by Six of Crows, even a poorly trained, fresh out of school Nina could tailor anybody like a piece of cake(not talking about the parem!Nina). Yeah, that's how much she retcons. So I'm no way believing that suddenly Zoya became so special to the Darkling that he said 'You and I are going to change the world'. Aleksander was like 500-700 years old and for an immortal like him, Zoyas were a dime and a dozen.

Zoya was the result of LB shooting her own foot by writing a stagnant character like Alina. So once LB got rid of her, she needed a new character every bit opposite to Alina-a confident girl boss who makes grown men quiver and yet every man would fall at her feet and bend over backwards to accommodate her. And voila! Zoya was born with the perfect amount of toxic girlboss energy and temper to bring down storms. Plus don't you think Zoya's entire character backstory is copy paste of Danny from GoT?

Anyways, coming back. When Aleksander was pointing out the mortality of their relationships, he was telling the truth. So is he supposed to just sugar coat things to the people who destroyed everything he built? Is he supposed to be nice to them? You seem to have a problem when he hides the truth and also have a problem when he tells them. So…

Coming to your other points;

1) Age difference - In real life, I strongly condemn it. But in this case, it's not like he was asking for it. Sure, Aleksander would love to have age appropriate relationships with someone mature enough to understood the struggles of Grisha. However, he can't because THEY'RE ALL DEAD, unlike him. So what is an immortal being supposed to do? Remain celibate for the rest of eternity?

2)I don't know how old you are but I'm going to assume you're working individual. So every time you have new coworker in your office, you'll spill out all your secrets to them right off the bat? Do you confess your sins and desires to them? Seek their forgiveness? Or beg for their acceptance?

See how silly it sounds? You're holding Aleksander to standard that you, yourself won't practice in real life. Aleksander is not a love sick boy, he's an experienced army general and Alina never earned his trust. You don't even have to look far and wide; Book 1, chapter 5 gives every info you need to know. He told her the reality and as usual it went past her. So no, there were no red flags. Your girl was just that stupid.

And when exactly did he make her feel like an outsider? Please, he never have to gaslight Alina, she can do that all by herself. Besides, did he stop her from training? or mingling with Grisha? Or let other Grisha mistreat her? She never opened her heart enough to actually learn about any Grisha. She even forwent eating at the common table after a few days. Even simple banter like Marie talking in Suli, was offensive and indirect hit on her worthlessness in Alina's eyes. And when she asked Genya to eat with her and Genya tried to explain why she can't, Alina's response was, 'I'm not going to weep into my soup.' She thought they were all mocking her. So how exactly Aleksander play in role into making her feel insecure? She had a major main character syndrome and was in a perpetual state of victimhood. Whatever she felt, I assure you, she did it herself.

Finally, he did not take ownership of her. He learned that she never could be trusted and used her as a weapon. He had bigger things at stake than an idiot's sensitivities. So he made sure the trigger for her powers lies with him. It's a trolley problem and I agree with what he did. In Book 2&3, Alina was his enemy, in case you missed that bit.

Once again, Aleksander is not a teenage boy. He's an army general fighting an active war. If you cannot understand the ugliness of war then you can never understand him. There's a duality to every great leader. Winston Churchill was a war hero but he also caused one of the greatest famines in India that killed nearly 4 million people. So make of it what you will.

PS: If you're the anon who has been spamming Pro-Darkling bloggers these past two days, then this would be the last time, I'm responding to you. You claim you're not against the Darkling and then bring up the same three talking points like every other anti. So I'd appreciate if you could stick to your side of the fandom. However, if you're not, then this is not directed at you and I was not trying to offend you.

[multishipper001]

You don't need to read the whole book of "King of Scars" to understand the stupidity of its protagonists. You only need to read only one chapter. Take for example this:

A few Grisha: *betray the Darkling*

The Darkling: *kills them*

Zoya: *shocked Pikachu face*

Didn't those Grisha choose to take Alina's side? Weren't they aware that there was a war going on and their choice might very well result in death?

Zoya loves to make martyrs the Darkling's victims even though their actions were their own and the consequences reasonable.

'Without remorse'

I didn't know that the Darkling confessed his feelings to you, Zoya.

Zoya wants her people to feel safe and suddenly realizes that the country needs to be strong and its leader capable.

The Darkling who knew all of this and tried to do just that rolls in Elizaveta's castle right now.

The heroes are so painfully dumb it's almost remarkable. They curse Aleksander for his harsh actions but when they realize that they have to do the same to bring stability and peace, they panic. Because they find it difficult to do without making hard decisions but still won't admit that the Darkling was in their position but didn't act like a chicken and instead decided to dirty his hands with more blood to put an end to all of that.

No, his way is condemned as brutal. His feelings inhuman, his goals selfish. There must be another way for them. A more pure, holy way.

The Darkling no longer gave a shit about how Ravka saw him as long as his dream came true (even though he longed for their love). While the heroes care so much about how they feel and about how they are perceived that cannot even stand doing anything radical through force and blood.

[multishipper001]

I've been thinking a lot about The Hunger Games recently, especially with the new book coming out. About how Suzanne Collins managed to write a book that continues to ripple effect most every single book in the YA genre to this day. The Hunger Games is the ginormous elephant in the room, every single book that comes out with a 17 year old girl who stages an uprising or fights a violent regime is going to be compared to Katniss.

The Hunger Games is one of those books that you can't really recreate though and no matter how much you try, it's just going to be a pale imitation of the original (Powerless anyone?). Unfortunately though, most still continue to try without understanding what Collins was attempting to do with the books, which is probably why she keeps releasing new more blatantly obvious versions of the first books to try and get her point across. Which, while I appreciate as a reader, is slightly terrifying as a human being.

However, the point of this essay is not to make a critique on the decaying moral values of modern day readers and how this trend is only exacerbated through social media, but to talk about Katniss and Alina and how the same endings on seemingly similar characters (at least if you're looking at it through surface level view) can end up being so so different.

I want to preface this by saying that I do not believe that Leigh Bardugo plagiarised Katniss' epilogue for Alina, I'm just pointing out that nothing exists in a vacuum and within the timeline of her publishing journey, it makes sense that certain aspects of her novels might have been influenced by Suzanne Collins.

While Katniss and Alina might appear to be very similar characters at first glance, both impoverished 17 year old girls who have had nothing for most of their lives swept away to live a life of luxury in exchange for laying down their lives for their new benefactors (Literally in Katniss' case), that is where the similarities end. Alina is special, she's the chosen one, better than everyone else in the world of the novels (or at least until Zoya comes in and ends up becoming the most specialest grisha to ever exist) because she is the only one with the power to destroy the Fold. When Alina learns that the Darkling is 'evil', she runs away to try and stop him, making the active decision to being a saviour of the people.

Katniss on the other hand is just some random girl. She isn't special, she wasn't chosen as a child and raised for the purpose of overthrowing the capitol, she doesn't have magic powers, Katniss is nothing. End of story. If it wasn't Katniss, then it could have been any other 17 year old girl. Katniss is not necessary for the destruction of elite upper class of The Hunger Games. That would have happened regardless. They could have created any other martyr the same way they created Katniss post the 74th Hunger Games. Alina has been powerless all her life, so she chooses to become a saviour, Katniss has been powerless all her life and she just wants to be left alone.

Which is why it makes no sense for them to have the same character arcs. When Katniss settles down with Peeta in the ruins of District 12 and helps rebuild, eventually learning and falling in love with who Peeta is outside of regime where they must be on constant guard because survival is not guaranteed, it is a realistic ending. One that shows us that hope exists among darkness. That our past does not have to define our future. That surviving and choosing to live despite the darkness of our pasts is also a method of rebellion. It's almost hopepunk in a way which makes sense considering the majority consensus among current THG readers that Katniss was most likely native coded - specifically of the Melungeon people of Appalachia on her father’s side. Katniss has always dreamt of a peaceful life where she does not have to worry about her family being drafted for the hunger games and now she gets it despite the pyrrhic sense of their victory. It's a moment to be celebrated but also a moment to reflect on what it took to get here, all that was sacrificed.

When Alina settles down with Mal at the end of the story to become a farmer's wife, she is giving up on her dream. Being a farmer has always been Mal's dream, Mal's vision of their future. It makes no sense for Alina to want it too, a character who up till this moment has shown no signs of wanting domesticity. When Alina loses her powers, it's supposed to be a tragedy. Alina has had nothing, her entire life has revolved around Mal ever since that orphanage. Her grishaness was the only thing that she ever had for herself, the one thing she had say over, not Mal. Alina's ending honestly reminds me of how so many woman with bright futures give up their hobbies and careers when they the world's most beigest man (why yes that was an interview with the vampire reference) just because their husbands don't like it when they aren't there to serve 24/7.

But this the part that gets me the most: The children.

Alina retires to Keramzin with Mal and rebuilds the Orphanage. Which would have been fine, if a boring ending for such an interesting character, except not once has she shown any inkling of wanting to do this throughout the series. In Siege and Storm, we see Alina grow more ambitious, wanting to lead the second army and growing more and more powerful. What happened to this girl? Why did she suddenly decide to give it all up and become a glorified housewife? Alina's ending does not have any of the nuance that Katniss had. Alina has never shown any feeling remotely close to wanting to run the orphanage. By returning at the end of Ruin and Rising, she's just recreating her childhood, Mal deciding what they do and her simply following along. Alina is stuck in this endless cycle of being dragged around and defined by a man and no matter what she does, she cannot escape.

However in The Hunger Games, we are shown throughout the series how much Katniss desires children, desires that domestic life. It is repeatedly drilled into the reader that the only reason Katniss has chosen not to have children is because she refuses to let another child live to grow up fearing their own death in the Arena. She does not want her children to live the same life she has lived. With the threat of the Hunger Games and the Capitol gone, there is nothing stopping her from having children. Katniss shows us through her actions how much she loves kids, first with Prim who you might be able explain away with a familial bond and then with Rue. Hell, she even cares for the other kids her own age in the arena, who she understands are only acting the way they are due to their desperate desire to survive. Katniss feels terrible whenever she has to kill. She does not desire power, she has no ambition except to live. Katniss pretends to be that 'tough guy' YA heroine stereotype to hide how fucking scared she is. Katniss is a teenage girl forced to be the face of a revolution and she wants nothing more than to resign.

A common critique of Katniss' ending that I've heard is that she doesn't mention the names of her children in the epilogue. I think this is very deliberate. The Hunger Games is very meta as a book. Suzanne's entire intention when writing it was to make her audience realise that the moment they picked up a book where children are forced to fight to the death for entertainment (because let's be real, who would have thought this series to have turned out to be what it is based on the blurb from the first book) we became the members of the Capitol. By committing the crime of reading Katniss story looking to be entertained, we have doomed ourselves. And I believe Katniss herself knows this to an extent. So, when Katniss doesn't mention the names of her children, I think its not because she doesn't cares for them, but its because she refuses to let us know. It's bit of a fuck you to the audience. A little bit of a, "You've had everything of me. I will not let you have this." moment for her.

So why is it that Katniss is the one who is considered to be written ooc (out of character) while Alina is relegated to the role of girlboss and 'feminism means respecting a women's ability to choose for herself teehee'? My personal belief is that it has a lot to do with modern day opinions on women's rights and the rise of the romanticised cottagecore/tradwife aesthetic in a post-pandemic world (GASP! It was the phones all along??!!!) and the absense of any critical thinking being employed while reading with the advent of booktok and the depoliticization of reading. BUT ☝️that is a post for another day because I am not paid enough (or like, at all) to write these.

Anyway, i digress that is all just my opinion - which is of course coloured a lot through my opinions on Leigh Bardugo herself, so take it with a pinch of salt. Everyone is free to believe what they want to (we are a free-ish world after all) and that might mean believing everything I have written is (pardon my French) a load of bullshit. No offense taken, I too often believe that what I have written is a pile of bullshit. But I truly do believe in this and I hope you do too.

Signing out!

Your Local YA Reader

[multishipper001]

Pekka Rollins ghostwrote this

KAZ WHEN I GET YOU. KAZ BREKKER YOU ARE NOT SAFE FROM ME

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As the name suggests, I love a good ship —it's one of the aspects that makes stories so fun for me.

Ironically though, it's also something that kinda messed up my reading experience regarding the Six of Crows duology.

You can easily notice that every important character is paired up with someone. While obviously there are friendships & other mentionable relationships between characters, the ones fleshed out and focused on are the romantic ones, and this wouldn't be bad if done right. However, with the method the author chose to show us these romances ruins it: we basically get a manuscript for the pairs. After introducing every main character, you could already tell who's paired with who, no other chance, no doubt.

And it took a toll on so many things regarding the story (like building relationships properly that aren't meant to be romantic) but my issue is this: there's no work left for the reader.

You don't look for tiny clues about a later relationship while you reread; it is made clear that each pair is only interested in the other romantically, nobody else stands a chance. Everything is set for the beginning, and you as a reader have nothing to do but read it; these romances are spoon-fed to us, readers. No need for your fantasy (quite ironic in a fantasy book if you ask me).

I saw someone write a post about this here in tumblr, went something like this:

"I love how the soc fandom is so chill, we don't have ship wars, we agree on everything!"

Maybe this is why I love my little crackships so much. The author would never give these pairings a chance but it's still fun to imagine how they'd be, who'd be with who...

Some of my faves (mind you, all of these are for fun, with personal HC's):

Matthias and Wylan:

Wylan would be scared shitless of Matthias in the beginning but I think these two would definitely hit it off. Big protective bf and Dyslexic disaster bf combo. They'd have the most tooth-rotting fluff relationship ever, and yes the unhinged one would be Wylan.

Inej and Genya:

*dreamy sigh* these two have me on a chokehold. Both are badass, fierce but also kind, and I think they'd have a great relationship with each other from the beginning. They'd wax poetry at each other 24/7 while having the wlw equivalent of Gomez&Morticia Addams as their relationship progresses.

(while we're at it, Genya and Matthias too would be a great pair, keeping the drusje-druskelle angst but with Matthias letting his guard down easier since Genya's abilities aren't as dangerous as other grisha's could be, and with Genya they'd be so sweet together!)

Nikolai & Kaz:

Oh my babies. These two are one of my favourites, I could write a dissertation about them, but I'll try to be short here. Kaz lying about being everything Nikolai is ashamed of (a bastard, a monster), Nikolai being everything Kaz cannot be (charismatic and charming, born into a well-off family, etc). Their criminal minds would make their relationship very fun, trying to outsmart each other. They'd also do each other good, Nikolai forcing Kaz to come out of his shell while accepting why he's hiding in the first place, and Kaz would confront Nikolai head on, wouldn't buy any of his lies he tries to mask with his smiles and cheerful behaviour, take him seriously no matter what...

It's getting long, isn't it?

(Bonus for Jesper, Nina and Nikolai going on a flirting mission to woo an entire nation into their demise)

Anyway, hope the brainrots have plagued your mind *-*

What are the ships you have that aren't canonically in the books?

[multishipper001]

mhehemm… mmmmmehhehe hhhmmehehe wip that i love

i was drawing this and suddenly i thought of him wearing lipgloss or some lip tint for the festival just in case merlin remembers him JUST IN CASE JUST IN. CASE. least obvious yearner

[multishipper001]

Well, folks, the numbers are in. We're in a committed relationShip with @ao3org, and it's called...drumroll...TagTeam! ao3blr was a VERY close second, so go ahead and use that tag too, ya crazy kids.

[multishipper001]

"Gotcha," the villain whispered.

They pushed the hero back against the wall until their cheek was digging into the concrete. The hero groaned and tried to fight back, but they were already aware that they were too tired to actually do anything.

Earlier, they had fallen onto their bad knee and truth be told, they were glad that the villain pressed themselves against them. It meant they didn't have to put their entire weight on their shaking legs.

Still. A little bit too humiliating.

"Oh, what a sore loser you are," the villain purred, lowering their voice and pressing their cheek against the hero's. It was as intimate as usual, however, this time the hero didn't have any energy to flirt back, nor any to fight back. The villain leaned back a little and there it was. A kiss on the back of the hero's neck. "You really sucked today."

"Yeah, I'm aware." The wall was cold against their skin and the hero felt tired enough to be nauseous. They tried to concentrate on the villain instead of the pain, after all, the villain didn't need to know about the horrible stinging in their entire body. The villain didn't need to know that they'd been on their feet for over 24 hours now.

"Hm. Don't worry. I feel merciful." The hero could feel the villain's lips on their skin again and this time, their opponent bit gently into their neck. The hero took in a shaky breath and froze, too overwhelmed to even register what was happening. They knew the villain was possessive, but this? This was definitely new.

"No kidnapping today?"

"No," the villain said. Their hands travelled down the hero's body, almost as if they were searching for weapons. "No kidnapping today."

Their hands stopped on the hero's hips and suddenly, they realised what the villain was after. They grabbed the hero's handcuffs and put them around the hero's wrists with no hesitation.

"Hey-"

The villain pressed them against the wall again, their lips brushing the hero's ear.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice? That's almost an insult, no?" they asked. Their fingertips brushed the hero's palms gently. "Or perhaps, you didn't want me to notice? In which case I am even more offended."

"I don't think it would have made a difference."

"Probably not," the villain agreed. "A fight where you don't go all out isn't fun, though."

The villain let out something close to a frustrated sigh.

"Your knee again, I presume?"

"Yeah," the hero said.

"You're still doing that physical therapy thing?"

"Nah, I quit after two weeks. It was ridiculous," the hero admitted. The villain turned them around, touched their jaw and raised their head, forcing them to look up at them.

Their gaze was horribly intimidating.

"I...I could make another appointment," the hero suggested. "Once a week, maybe?"

"Three times a week."

"Maybe two?"

"Three times a week," the villain repeated and the hero understood. They nodded and their heart in their chest was drumming relentlessly.

"Alright, sweetie," the villain said. The hero could only yelp as the villain grabbed them and threw them onto their shoulder. The villain had never carried them before. At least of all over their shoulder and handcuffed.

"Are you crazy?" the hero hissed.

"In front of which police station would you like me to toss you?"

[multishipper001]

"Gotcha," the villain whispered.

They pushed the hero back against the wall until their cheek was digging into the concrete. The hero groaned and tried to fight back, but they were already aware that they were too tired to actually do anything.

Earlier, they had fallen onto their bad knee and truth be told, they were glad that the villain pressed themselves against them. It meant they didn't have to put their entire weight on their shaking legs.

Still. A little bit too humiliating.

"Oh, what a sore loser you are," the villain purred, lowering their voice and pressing their cheek against the hero's. It was as intimate as usual, however, this time the hero didn't have any energy to flirt back, nor any to fight back. The villain leaned back a little and there it was. A kiss on the back of the hero's neck. "You really sucked today."

"Yeah, I'm aware." The wall was cold against their skin and the hero felt tired enough to be nauseous. They tried to concentrate on the villain instead of the pain, after all, the villain didn't need to know about the horrible stinging in their entire body. The villain didn't need to know that they'd been on their feet for over 24 hours now.

"Hm. Don't worry. I feel merciful." The hero could feel the villain's lips on their skin again and this time, their opponent bit gently into their neck. The hero took in a shaky breath and froze, too overwhelmed to even register what was happening. They knew the villain was possessive, but this? This was definitely new.

"No kidnapping today?"

"No," the villain said. Their hands travelled down the hero's body, almost as if they were searching for weapons. "No kidnapping today."

Their hands stopped on the hero's hips and suddenly, they realised what the villain was after. They grabbed the hero's handcuffs and put them around the hero's wrists with no hesitation.

"Hey-"

The villain pressed them against the wall again, their lips brushing the hero's ear.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice? That's almost an insult, no?" they asked. Their fingertips brushed the hero's palms gently. "Or perhaps, you didn't want me to notice? In which case I am even more offended."

"I don't think it would have made a difference."

"Probably not," the villain agreed. "A fight where you don't go all out isn't fun, though."

The villain let out something close to a frustrated sigh.

"Your knee again, I presume?"

"Yeah," the hero said.

"You're still doing that physical therapy thing?"

"Nah, I quit after two weeks. It was ridiculous," the hero admitted. The villain turned them around, touched their jaw and raised their head, forcing them to look up at them.

Their gaze was horribly intimidating.

"I...I could make another appointment," the hero suggested. "Once a week, maybe?"

"Three times a week."

"Maybe two?"

"Three times a week," the villain repeated and the hero understood. They nodded and their heart in their chest was drumming relentlessly.

"Alright, sweetie," the villain said. The hero could only yelp as the villain grabbed them and threw them onto their shoulder. The villain had never carried them before. At least of all over their shoulder and handcuffed.

"Are you crazy?" the hero hissed.

"In front of which police station would you like me to toss you?"