#Thoughts on Riko Moriyama

[thepriceofsurvival]

“Riko still believes he can win his father's attention with his fame. If the lord does not recover, Riko will take his anger and grief out on everyone around him."

Neil considered that, then said, "Good thing you're not there anymore."

"Jean still is," Kevin answered.

[feelingthedisaster]

The King's Men's plot structure is genius.

TKM has been critized a lot for not following the conventional plot structure, because it doesnt end inmediatly at the resolution of the climax, like they taught us in class. But it actually has a reason behind it and it think that is what makes AFTG unique and Nora Sakavic an amazing writer. I'll explain.

So, we all know AFTG has a lot of chess metaphors, however i think it doesnt contain the metaphors, it is the metaphor. Each character represents a piece of the board (Riko king, Kevin queen, Neil pawn, Andrew knight, etc) and exy is the chess, but but but, a chess game not only involves the pieces, the game cannot exist without someone playing, the chess masters (which would be Kengo, Ichiriu, Nathan and all the mafia stuff).

So, AFTG is divided into two plots happening at the same time: what happens on the chess board (exy season) and what happens outside it (the mafia mess).

Of couse, the climax has to be about the outside out, because who cares which one of pieces move in which way if the players are pointing guns at eachother under the board? The guns are more more important. So who cares? The pieces on the board care, the ones that are being played with. And who is the narrator? The character that represents the pawn, the less important figure of the entire room.

Yeah, the 'outside of the board' plot is over half way into the book, but it doesnt matter because that happens outside the board, the chess game has not ended yet. The pawn cannot go back to rest in the box until the game is over, until the king dies. The book cannot be over until the chess game our protagonist is a piece of ends. The books have to end with the king's (Riko) death and that is exactly what happens.

If this isnt excellent writing and one of the best examples of know the rules so you can break them, i dont what is.

[joanofexys]

Kevin Day falls into Raven habits without even realizing it. Despite his best efforts to adjust to a normal life. He runs laps to keep himself awake because he's never quite adjusted to 24 hour days. He struggles to eat anything he perceives as unhealthy despite his dependence on alcohol. When he gets frustrated he plays with a brutality ingrained in him since he was old enough to hold a racquet. He refuses to go anywhere without Andrew, without a partner. Do you think when he wakes up in the middle of the night, to a dark room, he looks over at the other bed expecting Riko to be there? Do you think he traces the ghost of a 2 on his cheek, hidden beneath a chess piece tattoo, out of habit? Do you think despite being a fox he feels as though he'll always be one of them? That, despite it all, he'll always be a Raven?

[donghuamuqing]

Youre next to international exy superstar kevin day at a subway eat fresh and accidentally see his phone screen

[vannyinthestars]

Hear me out:

Kevin got his tattoo covered. He covered his Raven past with the foxes, but hasn’t completely recovered from it so it lingers under the skin. He focuses on being the Queen more and chooses that identity moving forward. It’s what he wears on the outside.

Neil’s tattoo was scarred off. He needed it gone and Nathaniel, who belonged to the ravens, died in Baltimore. The scar represents his number being killed.

Riko died with his tattoo. He did not escape it.

Jean will get his removed. He will heal from it and while it will disgrace his past, his number will not affect his future.

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

Sometimes I sit and wonder about the paralels in AFTG and I go like "Woooow Nora's brain" yk?

So here are some of them:

•Jean and Andrew both having suicidal ideations, being number 3, not showing their emotions on the outside but feeling so much on the inside (AND letting people think they doesn't care), protecting Kevin (and others in general) and not accepting help until the situation is critical.

•Andrew and Riko both being separated from their families at birth and creating one by force, Andrew doing it mostly for others while Riko did it for himself.

•Renee and Neil growing up in mafia/gang enviroment and scaping it, the whole Nathaniel/Nathalie thing.

•Matt and Aaron growing up with neglecful parents and them being the reason of their addictions (to similar things also) and being "helped" with that by Andrew's questionable means.

•Nicky and Allison being shunned by their parents for being themselves, forgetting all the other things they did to make them proud and loved.

•Seth and Neil trying to blend in (in different ways but still), dealing with jelousy and then Seth dying his last year with the Foxes and Neil who thought he was gonna die his first year surviving.

There are much more but I can't think of all of them now and didn't write them the last time I thought about this. For me it's awsome how maybe a little desition, a person, a moment... can turn you in an entire different person and this books show that SOOO WELL!!

[alexxx362]

I just know neil thanks whatever higher power out there every night that he was able to punch riko before he was killed

[leroiestmortvivelareine]

Strap in if you dare, I’m going to talk about Riko.

Yes, he is a Bad Person. Nothing I’m about to say counters that. However… evil isn’t always so obvious as to dress in black and torture everyone you love. Evil is insidious and nuanced - it can creep in when you aren’t expecting it and have no defences. We’ve been given this incredibly complex and interesting example of it, and we’ve been given it for a reason. Riko is a character worth trying to understand.

Could Riko ever have been saved, and if so what would it have taken? What if he’d been able to follow the Fox path to redemption instead of the Ravens to perdition?

Except both Foxes AND Ravens were traumatised… the thing that ruined Riko was power. Lincoln said it: “nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Who was Riko without power? It’s hard to see.

So I’m fascinated by a different question - how did Riko see Riko?

We know how the Foxes saw him: a low-functioning sociopath with zero coping skills and the personality of a cat trapped in a wall cavity. Presumably that’s not how he saw himself. What kind of headcanon did he construct for himself, what was his own personal mythology?

We know he wanted his father’s approval, he wanted to be number one. We know how badly he dealt with those desires being thwarted.

I know how it feels to be an abandoned child. You feel like the outer edges of a person, with this gaping hole in the centre. It’s not just that you lost a loved one, it’s - how can I say it - it’s like the clasp that lets you hold on to people has been torn out too. Everyone will leave now, and you know it.

(I didn’t cope by turning my bedroom into Abu Ghraib, though.)

It’s the worst of both worlds. His father is far enough away to cause that gaping wound, yet not sufficiently gone for it to ever close over and heal.

But… despite his impossible situation, Riko wasn’t withdrawing into himself. Resentment ate away at him and he liked doing side-projects of revenge, but it was hope driving him on. I see Riko as someone with a very hot flame in them, someone determined to succeed (like Neil). He was driven, even if the goal he chased so eagerly was an illusion. I think he saw his situation as a challenge, an opportunity to prove himself and eventually take his rightful place at his father’s side (surely that’s what Kengo really meant, surely this was a test, a test he can pass if he just wins one more time...)

Imagine something like… the second son of a Roman emperor, sent to some far-off outpost to get him out of the way subdue rebel tribes. A chance to make a name for himself, an opportunity to create an elite unit where violence and skill are everything, where winning is everything. A challenge he accepts with savage excitement.

And the world views them with the kind of awe once reserved for ancient Sparta. Unsurpassed warriors, impossibly focussed. Yes, they endure conditions no one else could even consider but they always win, and everyone loves winners. They are the legends of legends. Surely his father will see.

Kevin was his Lancelot, his shining sword, his right hand. Kevin added to Riko’s status, assured him he must be a hero if he had such a splendid champion at his side.

But Kevin is beautiful, so perhaps Riko’s feelings were more complicated than that, perhaps they were feelings he couldn’t admit he had. He could still work those feelings into the overall picture though… it’s all part of Kevin being his beloved champion.

Until the champion started edging him out of his own story and had to be sacrificed. A necessary sacrifice, but losing Kevin struck a huge blow to the mythology Riko built up about himself. He could no longer look in the mirror, side by side, and see Kevin’s glory (and, yes, Kevin’s dad) reflected back as though it belonged to him too.

Despite this Riko finds a way to keep winning, even without his champion. Surely that is even more impressive? Can his father see that?

Still no response. In the story Riko constructs for himself his father does no wrong, so this towering rage he feels has to crash down on someone else. He tells himself he is punishing his troops for daring to be unworthy.

Then there is Jean, someone from a caste so low as to be unclean, even subnormal, someone it would hurt Riko’s prestige to treat with any kind of respect. But Jean is also beautiful, and those feelings can’t be worked into the myth. Their outlet is the darkness behind closed doors, along with all the other feelings that don’t fit the story of the hero.

Harming his people, his intimate possessions, was Riko’s coping mechanism for rejection and humiliation the way self-harm in many forms is to many others. (Are you hearing me if I say hurting yourself is hurting your own Perfect Court, and there is collateral damage even if you think it’s just you, because people love you and suffer because of it? Are you hearing me if I say stop being Riko to yourself?)

And maybe his enjoyment of that cruelty was, deep down, a form of denial that the cruelty arose from anguish. ‘No I’m not upset, I’m not a loser, I’m in control, I’m doing this because I like it…’ Maybe even to the point where rendition becomes sexual.

But it’s starting to unravel. He’s lost his only friend and can no longer unleash his mounting frustrations on Jean the way he wants to; he’s running out of pieces for his board.

Then he finds the fugitive his family were chasing for so long. This is his big chance. He’ll have a brand new champion for his stable or a valuable offering to please his father, he wins either way.

He captures this feral child who tells him there is no empty throne waiting by the side of the emperor, Kengo never mentions his son’s name, Riko is nothing more than a joke in that far-off capital. So much scorn in those words that the carefully constructed mythology withers before it.

First the would-be rook took the queen, then the wild-card knight escapes again, and now the whipping boy / concubine / bishop is taken by a girl with a cross around her neck. The king has lost all his men… because that’s your REAL story, isn’t it: everyone leaves you.

And then… Kengo dies.

Yes, Riko is a Bad Person. No, I do not like him. But Nora gave us two boys who met their brother for the first time, two boys who cried out their brother’s name only to see their hopes shattered. And in that moment they were one, so I cannot dismiss this monstrous, horrible abomination no matter how hard I try.

I can however dismiss anyone who says Nora is not a goddess of writing.

[ohfallingdisco]

They left Kevin and Wymack in West Virginia for Riko’s funeral.

How much strength would it have taken Andrew to get on the bus without them? How much trust, from Neil? How did Dan find the courage to leave Wymack behind, whom her entire future was modeled after? What was running through Aaron and Nicky’s heads, who had spent every day for two years in Kevin’s mess? Matt and Renee and Allison, driving away without two of the ten that made them the Foxes?

How terrified do you think Kevin was? Walking freely back into the belly of the beast, flaunting a Queen tattoo to a dead boy’s King. Taking his father with him—his father, who now knew who he was, and that the Moriyamas were to blame for the years of silence. Walking to the front, to pay respects to “The Master,” to commiserate a loss he can’t regret. How many hours did he spend on the phone, texting Andrew?

But, “Maybe it’s not about him,” Renee told Jean. “Maybe you’re mourning the wreckage he made of your life. You’re allowed to grieve what he took from you.” Perhaps Kevin heard something similar. Maybe his father told him something similar.

Maybe it was never about him. Maybe the shaking and the panic, in the dead of night, were never about him. The King had wronged the Queen, and she was bound to take her place in his stead. Maybe Kevin needed to stay to find a better version of himself, in the wreckage of who he was.

[ninyard]

no but really. riko's "lessons" on grief crumbling the second kevin finds out about riko's death though!!!! all of that suppression, all of the buried feelings, all of the time spent avoiding and hiding and concealing left to rise to the surface the second riko is dead!!!

i am convinced kevin freaks out in a way he's never freaked out before, in a way that sincerely shocks anyone who witnesses it, once he finds out riko is gone. in a way that subtly begs the question about inpatient care and an extended leave of absence and rehab. in a way that nobody else really understands because it was riko of all people to trigger this meltdown, but in a way that is genuinely terrifying

that codependency, even if undercut by relief that the abuse is over, does not go away without a freak out!!

-childhood in the nest anon

oh that's such a good point. Especially if Riko was successful in not letting Kevin mourn, if Kevin never really grieved his mother because Riko said, "You have me."

Like, what if the whole basis of Kevin's avoidance of grieving his mom was based on Riko saying, "So long as I'm here, you don't have to worry about her." Imagine every time he almost cried, every time he almost said I miss my mom out loud, Riko would grip his arm or his hand or his face and say something to the effect of, "Your grief is a waste of time and the only thing that matters is me, is us, is exy."

And then Riko's dead? And oh, he remembers this feeling that he'd only felt in vague bursts before, buried so deep he couldn't even be sure he felt it at all. The words, "Riko is dead," sound like "Your mom is dead". They found her body this morning. They found his body last night. There's nothing they could've done to save her. He was dead when the ambulance arrived.

It's like this doubled grief, all the things he'd never been allowed to feel for his mom suddenly coming back up, and like, these are feelings that Kevin thought he was too young to have felt. He thought he was too young to remember, he thought he was too young to understand but now he's reminded that, no, you felt it. You understood. You just weren't allowed to feel the monumental loss that you'd faced. You weren't allowed to work through this gnawing icy pain in your heart. And now that Riko's dead, you're allowed. You're free.

But now Riko's dead. Now Riko is dead, and his mom is dead, and fuck Riko for making him feel both of their deaths at the same time because he shouldn't exist in the same world that his mother does. The pain he feels for them both should be incomparable.

I like to imagine that for just a few moments after Kevin is told, he goes into shock, completely and utterly unable to function with the knowledge that Riko is dead.

"Riko killed himself last night," David says, and Abby is by his side for backup, for protection, for Kevin's safety. Betsy is on speed dial. "They won't tell me much, but they think it happened fast."

Maybe Abby nudges him because nothing he says will be okay, or good enough, or soft enough so as to not destroy Kevin. And he hears the words. He knew they were coming. They had to come, this was always going to happen. This was always how it was going to end. But his brain goes quiet and his hands go numb and he smiles a weak smile. He doesn't feel those words at all.

"Okay," He nods, like he's just been told that it's raining outside or he's wearing odd socks. "Thank you, Coach."

"Kevin, did you..." Abby's voice is soft as she reaches out. "Did you hear what David said?"

His eyes are empty, someplace far away, but his voice does not shake as he says, "I did."

For a while, maybe, they don't let him leave the room. He's quiet, disassociating, but not yet crying. Not yet throwing things around the room like David expected. Not yet begging for a bottle of vodka.

Does Renee come to the door first, or Neil? Does Abby answer the door because David asked her to, and what snaps him out of it? Is it Renee saying, "I called Jean. I told him to avoid the news," or is it Neil saying, "Have you told him yet?" that snaps him back into the real world, back to reality, to Jean can't find out, to Jean is alone, to Neil knows, to oh my god to this is real to Riko's dead and Riko's dead and Riko's dead.

Everything is familiar and nothing is the same. His body tells him he’s allowed to mourn his mom now, but he can’t handle it, and he can’t handle Riko being dead and Jean not knowing and Riko being dead and his mom isn’t here and he just. can’t. get his head around it. It’s all of a sudden messy and loud and confusing. He can’t let himself think about how Riko probably didn’t kill himself, he can’t ask himself why Neil knew before he did. He can’t believe it. If he believes it then it’s real and it’s his fault and who has him now? That was Riko’s job. To stop him from mourning so he could keep his eye on the prize and now he has it; They won the season. He put all his focus on exy, and look where it got him. All those lessons, all that burying of his feelings and compartmentalising to deal with it later hits him at once like a fucking truck and I think Kevin had the breakdowns of all breakdowns that day.

I think whatever happened to Jean on his own in that dorm room would’ve happened to Kevin, and more. He’s lucky that he wasn’t alone, I suppose, but it still doesn’t make it any easier. He’s tall, and he’s strong, and his head isn’t in the room when he’s throwing shit at the walls and screaming like it’ll help make things make sense. He doesn’t see where the chair lands. He doesn’t see who the books are thrown at. There is a chance that not one person in that room has ever seen anyone lose their mind so quickly, and intensely before. Because it’s not just Riko, it’s his mom, it’s his childhood, it’s his future, it’s his abuser, it’s his brother, it’s his identity and purpose and fuck, it’s Riko. Who is he without Riko?

If I keep going this will just end up far too long but oh lordy lord I think you’re absolutely right

[summeart]

How could Kevin ever be Rikos right-hand man when hes left handed....?

[kev-day]

thinking about kevin growing up in the nest and having to learn defense mechanisms to literally survive but are now the main criticisms his teammates have against him. and no one (besides jean) really know the fully extent of what he went through bc of the public persona and brick wall of self preservation he had to put up.

like he’s an asshole perfectionist about exy bc it was literally beat into him since childhood. running in 16 hour days since who knows how young he was and deprived of food and sleep when a drill was not performed perfectly

the world saw him and riko as brothers but riko was never kind to him. he hated playing the role as second best but it’s how he could make it through each day with one less injury. he was on eggshells nearly every second of the day because he was almost never out of riko’s sight. he learned how how navigate every mood until riko became too unhinged to navigate and by then he was so trapped in his role that he couldn’t fight back from riko and he couldn’t let the team know that he wasn’t just number 2 but he was a pet to riko. he was a bitch to his teammates to distract from what riko was doing to him and jean but also from so much built up anger inside for the person he could not escape

[quathxr]

AFTG THEORY

(Spoilers for tgr)

We usually talk about the ravens in terms of chess. With Riko being the king and Kevin being the queen. Because that’s how it’s framed. But what if we switched perspectives to cards for a bit..

In cards, if Riko was a king, and Kevin queen, then what is Jean? My idea, is that Jean is a Joker. Jokers, or jesters, are often depicted in media as a king’s entertainment, their plaything. And that is exactly what Jean was to Riko. In most card games though, jokers are wild cards. They can be dangerous to keep in your hand for too long… but they can change the entire game in your favor. We see this in tgr repeatedly. Keeping Jean around is a risk, forcing the school to bring in security, and even costing Laila and Cat their house. On the flip side, the Trojans also have their best shot at the finals, with Jean even teaching some of the players Raven tactics. And further, in Tarot cards, a joker represents new beginnings (this may be wrong, I just googled it lmao). Jean’s new place in the Trojans is just that: a fresh start.

Jean is a joker.

[eeriethacus]

Combining my current obssession with my past obsession? That's a half-lie, never got over Hadestown.

A lil old wip for now because I've been busy and will be busy for the next couple of weeks... but hopefully I'll be back with an aftg piece that's in the works<33

[vannyinthestars]

Ngl everyone talking about the all for the game show and I have so many ideas for the og trilogy but imagine the trailer for tsc. I have three ideas and can’t settle so maybe a combo of the three:

Idea 1: dark and more telling but with a hopeful ending.

The sound of water on a black screen, audio of someone thrashing and fighting in water, flashing to a room dimly lit by red lighting, it goes silent. Water dripping against tile floor, still red lighting so is it blood? We don’t know. Black screen. News anchor reporting on Riko’s death, but it’s fuzzy. The audio clears up as they say something like “Backliner Jean Moreau, the missing piece from the perfect court at the Finals game, has been unable to be contacted for comment.” The screen cuts out. One of Wymack’s quotes. Jarring flashback to the coast in Paris, two children laughing and the sound of the ocean. Close up of Jean’s tattoo and the sound of him inhaling. “I will endure.” Exhale. Something like eyes blinking open and the California coast. Somehow we get the sense of the camera turning around to look behind their back. Jeremy smiling in the airport and not him saying it on screen but a voice over of “Welcome to the Trojans!” Camera flips around and we see Jean in the airport. Cut to black.

Idea 2: sunshine-y with the descent into darkness

Opening with children laughing in the sand beside the ocean and voice of French parents calling out to them. Cut to the future and it’s Jean standing and only the audio of the ocean waves on the California coast. We hear the muffled voice of Jeremy calling his name slowly fading into his ears and get a shot of him resting a hand on Jean’s shoulder to get his attention (I know it’s not book canon but give me some wiggle room). Black screen and silence before a jarring lack of music. Jeremy’s interview scene where he announces Jean is joining their line up being abruptly turned off. Lower music that’s more melancholy. Jean being disgusted with Kevin by the idea of going to “the sunshine court.” (Insert the from the “producers of *blank* or whatever here) sudden Flash of a red lit scene in the nest and some sort of violence. Flash of golden lit scene of Jean being hurt on the Ravens court. Black screen with some other information. Jean seeing himself in the mirror and he’s covered in injuries. “I will endure.” And Final Cut to like a release date or smthn.

Idea 3: idek

In abrupt flashes, Thea calling him “Paris.” And we see a very dark red lighting waterboarding scene. Jean being hurt before Renee rescues him. “We cannot reach Jean Moreau, the only member of the perfect court to not be at the finals game, for comment.” Black screen. Neil narrating the whole “Jean Moreau came back to himself in pieces.” Deep inhale and exhale. “I will endure,” written in a slightly slanted scrawl as Jean’s voice reads it out. And Renee saying something. Under the endure line we see a jotted note of A cool evening breeze and the sound of wind. Number two with Rainbows being written and read aloud and a flash of the photo of Renee. A number three written that says open roads and a flash of the scene with Cat. And four being written and then Jeremy saying “Welcome to the Trojans” and cutting back to the notebook paper as Jean says and writes “teammates friends”

[leroiestmortvivelareine]

How relieved must the Yakuza be that they ended up with Ichirou. Imagine being a sensible, competent gangster, having to follow a loose unit who thinks homework only happens to other people and whose idea of an evil plan is to force his enemy to use colour-care conditioning shampoo.