#hence my mention of tenet and the fandomization of the twilight guy of Washington’s character.

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

I have opinions on the Poppy, Kieran, and Casteel dynamic from the From Blood and Ash series. I've seen the discussions about it, granted I haven't finished the series as I DNF'd a quarter into the third book. The point is less about the subject of the Joining as a plot point (i.e. I don't quite care about the craft of the joining or how well executed it was), and more about the racial tensions at work. Let's call it the Kenji Kishimoto effect. Or the Tenet effect. The moment these types of characters step outside the designated template, problems begin to arise.

Tawny and Kieran being named "brown and black, respectively" wasn't enough for people to dislike the book. Both of them are servants to our main characters (and I think Kieran is magically bound to Casteel, I think? I haven't read these books in years tho). But Kieran's elevation from black best friend to love interest did. Again, I think the problem lies less in the craft of these stories, and more in the raciality of it all. The way people become unconsciously uncomfortable with unambiguous black/brown people operating in those types of spaces. Hence why I bring up Kenji Kishimoto, Tenet; it extends to other pieces of media too: Bonnie from TVD, Poe/Finn/Rose from SW. Either these characters are beloved because people unconsciously (or knowingly) that they will never operate outside of the comfortable, accessible person of color. Or they're hated because they might.