#i do think in general maxwell kind of sucked ass at fighting for a long while

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

max and wigfrid training headcanons beneath the cut bc im feeling a little silly w it

while wigfrid (seemingly) canonically makes it her mission to train all the survivors, i tend to focus on her training max for one specific reason (outside of the fact that the others are lame and have no theater kid swagger). max's fighting style, due to his use and reliance on puppets, is probably the most unique out of all of the survivors, and thus synergizes with wig's fighting style in a very unique way

to me, wigfrid's biggest 'flaw' when it comes to fighting is her dedication to it. and- though it is a flaw- in many cases it helps far more than it harms her. fighting activates a tunnel vision that completely hones her into her target. the extent of their stamina, their weak spots, their telegraphs. body language is as comparable as english, and she can act accordingly with astonishing swiftness and mercilessness. the only real consequence she's ever faced from this is the fact that the rest of the world- including herself- kind of melts away. meaning its hard to accommodate for the surrounding terrain, the state of her allies, or the severity of her own wounds… even then, though, none of that has ever been enough of a slap on the wrist to get her to change her fighting style.

but maxwell, on the other hand, is entirely the opposite. his whole gimmick is getting other people to do the work for him- working smarter instead of harder. and his style of fighting is the perfect counter to wigrid's. it's incredibly difficult- if not impossible- to hone in on someone when two, equally intelligent clones are clobbering you simultaneously. and in that regard it becomes almost embarrassingly easy to juggle wigfrid's aggro. without the puppets though, there wouldn't be any room for maxwell's methodical thinking when partnered with wigfrid's relentless aggression. every action he makes is too predictable; attacks are easily blocked, and defenses are too easily countered.

both of them being prideful at their cores, they're equally unwilling to let the others catch on to the fact that they both have such glaring offensive weaknesses. training against one another gives them a great opportunity to increase their skill against someone who won't snitch about how embarrassingly bad the other's faults are (because if one tells then the other would tell, so its symbiotic blackmail)

[callmetippytumbles]

☕️ on the ladies of court (Kiara, Hana, Madeleine, Penelope and Olivia)

So, Nonny, I am not sure if you meant my feelings on the characters of the court or how they are written.  Lucky for you my mouth is big, and I have opinions on both. Apparently a lot.  Get snacks.  

Let’s do this.

PenelopeHer Character: So listen, I know that homegirl has all kinds of anxiety, loves poodles, has some funny ass moments…you know, good/relatable things.  Here’s the thing, I am always going to look at her sideways.  Penelope set up the MC for assault.  People are going to say, she didn’t mean to, or she did it to stay in court.  I just hear “blah, excuses, fuckery.”  Her arm wasn’t twisted.  She could have opted out.  The part that really fucks me up about this is twofold.  Firstfold: After Penelope sets you up, she acts as if she did nothing wrong.  Bitch knew she set you up and was all like “congratulations on your dick and crown.”  That is beyond two-faced.  Secondfold has a lot to do with the writing (and I forgot my nonwriting point).

The Writing:  I want to get over the shit that Penelope did, but the writing makes sure that I don’t.  Not because the writers want me to forget, but the way that the plot disproportionately services her character compared to others (Hana and Kiara namely) keeps me from making that journey with them.  Penelope gets all kinds of attention, especially in Book 2 and Book 3.  Again, Penelope is the one who hired and paid for the photographer that took the scandalous photo of your assault.  She was the one who got Tariq in your bedroom as well.  These are actions she took.  Now, look at how Penelope gets treated.  We have to be super duper nice to her to get her to confess to her part in the bullshit.  Later on in the book during the nameless beer garden scene, Penelope along with Kiara thinks the MC is going to be mean to them because Madeleine, A Demon, is ousted.  No mention of her part in a plot that features assault.  I am not gonna let that shit die.  The writers do.  Other than the option at the tea party where you tell poor Penny that you do hold that shit against her (as well as the next generations), this is never brought up again.  

Also, they give Penelope a backstory of having crippling anxiety (which I can appreciate because mental health struggles are no joke), which conveniently comes to the forefront when we are about to learn that she did some fuckshit, and that takes center stage to lessen the blow.  Again I don’t hold Penelope having anxiety against her, I do dislike it being used to redeem or excuse shitty behavior.  Oh and the writers go out of their way to center her in her narrative.  Penelope needs a boyfriend?  Don’t give her Maxwell, he is an LI and for the MC only.  Let’s give Kiara a brother that we never knew existed.  He will love animals, and animal care and Penelope.  She deserves.  

OliviaHer Character: With Olivia, my feelings for her went through stages.  At first, I was like, “fuck you, and everything about you for the rest.”  I would choose all opportunities to be petty because fuck her.  Then around the apple baking scene, I still didn’t like her, but I didn’t hate her.  I think I started to love her Book 2.  When she directed that hatin’ energy to drag Drake and A Demon and not the MC, then I could like her.  Now, Olivia is a gem, and I love her.  I love her shade and that she is not the one to fuck with.  If I was about to go into a fight, I want Olivia on my side.  You know she carries a switchblade and subscribes to STAB HIM™ as a lifestyle.  

The Writing: I enjoy the writing too.  This is a redemptive character arc I can get behind.  Olivia starts off as a bitch, but over the course of the books, you get a lot of chances to sympathize and grow with her.  Over time she sheds her abrasive front and shows that she is fiercely loyal and dedicated, but will still cut a bitch because, again, she subscribes to STAB HIM™.  Also, Olivia’s growth is not at the expense of someone else.  To be fair, a lot of the opportunities for her to be vulnerable and have the reader empathize with her are centered on Liam.  Liam is the first person to stick up for Olivia in the series.  Her motivations for her involvement are focused on her feelings/loyalties to him.  Liam extends a lot of kindness to her.  Olivia’s relationship with Liam as a vehicle for growth is never for the endangerment of Liam.  You don’t look at their relationship as an abusive or potentially abusive.  Can’t say the same for all the ladies.

A DemonIT’s Character: I read TRR before RoE, and even with that in mind, I hate this heifer.  In Book 1, I disliked IT.  Book 2 cemented my hatred though.  A Demon in TRR2 escalated from fucking annoying to, for all intents and purposes, full-on sociopath.  IT plays with the people around her on a psychological level, using her increased access to power for the purposes of manipulation and control.  A Demon makes no bones about it either.  IT doesn’t pretend to act in anyone’s best interest but its own.  This is apparent before IT says what it says about Hana at the bachelorette party.  

For those that have forgotten, after faking a fatal chocolate allergy and publicly debasing Hana at an event she planned for A Demon, IT says to the MC that it intends to psychologically break her.  IT wants to do this.  For fun.  This is why from then on I call it A Demon because that is some fucked up evil shit.  I thought it was a narcissist, but I am now like, “this bitch is a sociopath.”  

While I am sure that A Demon is toxic and awful, I can also acknowledge that sometimes it’s on the receiving end of some shit.  She got dumped twice.  First Leo breaks off his engagement with A Demon to go on a cruise for an American (that may or may not chose him).  Then Liam dumps her for an American (that may or may not want him) after A Demon agrees to a nonmonogamous relationship.  I view her like Mellie from Scandal in a lot of ways.  They both are women who dedicate their lives to men who do not give a fuck about them.  Mostly for power.  Is Mellie from Scandal still terrible?  Yeah.  Does Mellie’s terribleness make Fitz any less of a fuckboy? No.  Liam is not a fuckboy, but he did like drop her out of nowhere.  Leo is kind of a fuckboy.  

The Writing: I feel a way about how Penelope is treated, but it pales in comparison to my feeling about the writing A Demon gets.  Especially this redemptive arc that they just have to do.  We can’t just fucking hate this Demon for the rest and leave it at that.  Nope! Nah! Nuh-Uh!  A Demon needs a multi-chapter narrative to have the reader feel bad and eventually like IT.  The fact that there is dedicated narrative bandwidth for this is terrible enough, but the lengths at which the writers are going to make this happen. [insert long exasperated sound of frustration of your choosing.]  

Look at everything that has to happen for “redemption.”

First, A Demon has to take a job IT does not need or want to force a closer relationship with the MC in an effort for them to bond or whatever.  I guess the idea is that A Demon is supposed to be so fucking good at being the MC’s press secretary that they become besties.  Sure.  Okay.  It’s such a shame that A Demon sucks in this role.  A Demon as a press secretary isn’t all that great.  IT has poor time management.   Who the fuck expects a client to read over 100 index cards or a textbook dossier just before an event?  Also, why put all your energy into such things when they can be rendered useless in a 5-10 minute conversation?  A Demon is also the kind of press secretary that requires you to do damage control for them. Fuck the fuck?  I hire you to spin for me, and I have to apologize for you?  Not to mention IT puts in me in outfits that don’t match the occasion.  Why are my titties kissing the breeze during a daytime luncheon?  Why?  (Also, why didn’t Liam want to kiss my exposed titties?  That bothered me as well.)  A Demon sucks.  Kiara or Justin (before he tried to shoot at me) would have been better choices for this job.  

The other significant effort made to make A Demon’s unsolicited redemption arc happen is a romantic relationship with Hana.  Yep.  The writers hint at this early in the drinking game diamond scene in Fydelia.  It was gross then.  Why?  A Demon has said that IT wants to psychologically break Hana.  For fun.  IT had taken actions to do that before that was uttered.  A Demon calls Hana a dog when commenting on agreeing to have Hana be part of her court.  That same chapter IT points out that if Hana does not get a match, she will be kicked out of court.  This doesn’t happen to Penelope or Kiara.  A Demon then fakes a chocolate allergy and then publicly humiliates Hana.  When confronted in front of Hana later, IT writes it off as hazing.  There is no apology.  It’s treated like whatevs, get over it girl.  So having the idea that Hana is being set up to date someone who once said and did things with the intent of psychologically breaking her is trash.  Setting up Hana for potential abuse is not cute or adorable. It’s troubling.  

Since the writers are really building this relationship to do the heavy lifting of this redemption arch, A Demon and Hana being a thing is brought up again during the Gala.  This time the writers know that we know about the psychological abuse.  So when the MC tells A Demon to stay away from her, A Demon merely says that Hana is over it.  Yeah, that sociopathic threat from the last book, entirely being written off as a non-factor so that this relationship can happen.  Kind of similar to how we are just supposed to be cool that Penelope helped coordinate an assault on the MC.  

Pretending that A Demon did not say that IT wanted to harm Hana and acted on it, does not undo it happening.  When A Demon was a clear antagonist, that line added to her villainy.  It built her up as an adversary to not just the MC but the women of the court in general.  Now that A Demon is not intended to be in opposition to the MC anymore does not make the things that she has said or done less painful.  

During the most recent chapter, this relationship is hinted at AGAIN.  If A Demon comes along for your bachelorette shenanigans, IT asks Hana to dance, after a wholly half-assed apology.  A Demon does not take ownership or responsibility for any of her actions.  Again.  IT says “if” like there is the possibility A Demon is not in the wrong.  (For those of you who need to be told, A Demon is in the wrong.)  The “if” communicates either A Demon either does not see what IT did as wrong or problematic (it was) or that IT knows that it’s wrong but feels ITs actions were in some way justified (they are not).  

So much time is spent trying to have the reader have a change of heart about A Demon it makes the negligence the other characters receive that much more offensive.

KiaraHer Character: Kiara is intelligent, strong, ambitious, and is not afraid to push back against expectations.  She does this a lot in the short amount of time that we see her.  Most recently in Valtoria, if the MC criticizes her and her father’s wishes for not being personal enough, Kiara counters that their wishes are personal to them.  Kiara has the building blocks to be someone fascinating.  She is a WOC in a predominantly white space, who is driven to serve her country despite her country not always seeing it for her.  Not to mention Kiara is a polyglot.  Also, her family is impossibly beautiful.  Especially her mama.  I wish I could say more, but I don’t get to say much else without speculating because she gets so little time.  

The Writing:  I have spoken at length about how the writers have treated Kiara.  I will not regurgitate the whole essay here.  I will say that I wish the writers would put as much effort into Kiara as they do about A Demon and Penelope.  Up until recently, the writers have gone out of their way to not write Kiara.  We have Zeke because Penelope just can’t have Maxwell and the writers did not want to talk about Kiara.  I will say the writers are better about this now.  Still not great.  (I have to watch you guys write romance for a sociopath but Kiara can’t get a hug from Rashad or Drake?  I call bullshit. #LetKiaraGetLove2K18)  The writers did make a point to talk about some of Kiara’s feelings and her trauma post Homecoming Ball and having the MC and Drake hear and validate her concerns.  That was nice.  I wished the writers did not have to be pressured to write about her.  

HanaHer Character:  Hana (like Kiara) is a WOC who is given all of the talents but none of the time.  I will say that some of the growth that we do get to see with Hana makes her that much more endearing.  Especially in Book 3, Hana gets to be funnier than we ever get to see her.  When she drags Drake with that impression of him during the drinking game is still legendary and will forever take me out.  “I would use whiskey for cologne, but I wouldn’t want to waste the whiskey.”  That is just funny.  Fight me.  Hana also has so many aspects to her.  She is a WOC who also identifies as LGBTQ+, she is working through a psychologically damaging upbringing (her parents deliberately sheltered their daughter so that she can be dependent/malleable to their control, which is fucked up) but she still has not let that corrupt her spirit in a way that it would someone else.  Like Kiara, a lot of what sets Hana apart does not get explored and does Hana a considerable disservice.  

The Writing: Woosah x 10^10.  I need all of the calming breaths for this.  If anyone in the TRR is done a disservice in terms of the writing, it’s Hana.  Kiara’s treatment is terrible, but this is amplified in Hana.  The problem is generally the same for both of them.  The times when the narrative should be about Hana, it is not.  Hana has so many opportunities where the focus should be on her, and the writers either half-ass it (at best?) or just drop the baton (at worse?).  Dropping the baton seems light.  They actually do not even extend their hands to receive the baton, let it hit the ground, urinate on it, then quit the race to watch Netflix and eat chips.

@lizzybeth1986 has done extensive writing on the many ways that Hana has been mishandled regarding how the writers treat her.  I really want to focus on the way the writers choose to utilize Hana to uplift or guide other characters that she does not get in return.  I am probably going to repeat a lot of Lizzy’s sentiments, but you asked for me to give my tea, so sit down, get your pinky out because I have some tea for you to sip.

I am going to start with the most frustrating thing about the writing for Hana, she is always positioned to be a tool.  Hana who is a love interest is written in a way that the only reason that we care about her is that she is useful.  

With the MC, the majority of her diamond scenes are about Hana giving the MC a leg up in the next chapter.  I can understand that this is done to get more people to buy her diamond scenes.  Hana is a female LI for a fanbase that is mostly straight women so I can see why the writers do that.  With that said, in Book 1, Hana’s second diamond scene is the Cordonian Waltz.  In that diamond scene, you learned a lot about Hana and got the skill.  Later diamonds scenes tend to lose the learning about Hana over acquiring the skill.  If Hana is your LI, you don’t always get to experience her romantically outside of the diamond scenes that are clearly intended to be sex scenes.  Outside of sex, the diamond scenes with her as your fiancée versus your friend are coded almost exactly the same.  Compared to the apparent difference between other LIs as your fiancée and your friend, it seems lazy.

Hana’s relationship with her parents is framed around usefulness as well.  The last chapter in Valtoria is dedicated to wrapping up the story arc of Hana’s relationship with her parents.  In Book 2, she is not on speaking terms with her parents after firmly rejecting Neville as a suitor.  This is after the build-up of the fact that her parents have trained (yep I said trained and not raised) her for the sole purpose of attracting and maintaining a relationship with a wealthy man.  A wealthy man that would elevate Hana and her family socially and economically.  

Xinghai, her father, makes a point to say that his daughter was not raised to be independent, which carries all kinds of unfortunate implications.  Lorelai and Xinghai have deliberately isolated and created dependency in their child, so she is compelled to obey and would be fearful to leave.  Hana’s parents read like destructive cult leaders.  The Lee household is a doomsday cult of 3.  The doomsday, in this case, isn’t the world ending, it’s Hana dying a spinster.  I kind of feel like I should expand on the crack theory of Hana’s parents raising her using the same techniques as destructive cult leaders.  

Hana’s parents come to Valtoria to make her come home or totally disown her.  The resolution one would think of is that her parents accept that Hana doesn’t have to marry and she is grown, or Hana lets her parents disown her, and she cultivates her own self-worth outside of her parents’ demands.  Hana does not exactly get either.  Hana proves her independence by showing that she can still be useful to her parents by getting Rashad to work with Xinghai’s company (using the flimsiest device, Hana knows the son of the Portera Group’s CEO).  Instead of Hana asserting herself as capable and willing to live without their approval or support, she goes out of her way to reinforce their belief that he is meant to be useful.  This allows Xinghai and Lorelai to continue to view her as an asset and does not challenge the terms of their conditional love.  

Hana’s conflict with her family being resolved in this way, as an afterthought, is unsurprising.  The opportunities to develop Hana outside of struggle or usefulness (like during the Shanghai chapters) are just not taken.  

While the writers do not want to take the time to explore Hana’s experience as a WOC, talk about her sexuality or being in the closet (Hana’s parents exclusively speak about male suitors.), they are willing to use Hana to lay the groundwork for A Demon to come out and complete a redemption arc no one asked for.  This is disturbing.  

Hana has to form a relationship with a woman who wanted to abuse her.  How is this healthy or good, or even acceptable?  Throughout a great deal of Book 2, A Demon continuously berates and humiliates Hana, publicly, as part of a plan to push Hana over the edge mentally.  For her entertainment.  When given the opportunity to take ownership of ITs past actions, and actually show remorse or regret, A Demon does neither.  Instead, the writers are going to put Hana in the position of having to forgive her abuser to redeem her abuser.  This is not something that Hana would do for her own benefit.  

You can’t even say that this is for the power of love.  How does Hana building a romantic relationship with a woman who used to torment her do anything good for her?  That is not even taking into account that Hana is a Chinese woman being put in the position of forgiving a White woman who wronged her.  People of color, particularly women of color are consistently practically required to make public statements of forgiving people (usually white) who have grievously wronged them to position themselves as worthy of someone giving a damn.  You see this again and again.  The most recent that comes to mind is when families of the Charleston Church shooting victims saying that they forgive Dylann Roof.  If any of them showed visible anger for what that man has done, the anger would not be seen as righteous or reasonable it would be seen as stooping to his level.  POC cannot even be angry when they should be because their anger is a threat and reason enough to diminish them.  Hana showing anger would be a threat to A Demon’s attempt to rebrand herself as a romantic option.  Hana has yet to take A Demon to task for the way IT has treated her.  She may not know about the true nature of the threat that A Demon made, but Hana definitely knows about all of the other ways that IT was shitty to her.  The threat was not an idle one.  It still doesn’t matter, Hana will be asked to place her pain to the side where no one but her can see it so that she can outstretch her arms to embrace A Demon, then scissor into the sunset.

Penelope would never be asked to not only make nice with someone who tormented her but initiate a relationship with them.  She had her grievances with A Demon’s treatment of her addressed with the WHOLE GROUP vying to protect her.  Penny got a whole brother out of thin air that wears his durag every night to lay his hair because she deserves nothing less.  If they can make an entire person appear to romance Penelope, why can’t they make a stud, a stemme, or a man to sweep Hana off of her feet?

The part that makes this even shittier, yes that is possible, is that the coming out story that A Demon is likely to get, Hana should have gotten.  Hana’s sexuality in terms of her past or even that much of her present is not explored.  We as the reader are just supposed to believe that Hana is a virgin that has only been set up to be in a relationship with a man, but she somehow knew that she was gay, dealt with and adjusted to that despite a lifetime of isolation.  Makes sense to me!  Her parents as recently as Chapter 15 STILL talk about setting her up with men.  There is nothing to indicate that she is out to them.  I don’t even think if the MC is her fiancée, that the relationship is presented as more than platonic.  

Hana is not even the only Asian Woman in the Choices universe that has dealt with her sexuality and growing into it or questioning.  Kaitlyn has a whole coming out arc that was given time and nuance in The Freshman.  It wasn’t to serve anyone but herself.  Kaitlyn coming out was not a device to explore introspection with Arjun. You as a reader are not entertaining a plot where Kaitlyn says she’s gay and the rest of the time we spend teaching Arjun not to be a homophobe as opposed to Kaitlyn publicly accepting this part of herself.  Yet Hana has to be a part of A Demon’s coming out/redemption story.  Okay.  I see you.

Those are my thoughts