#i really didn't expect something like this from soc/ck

[sentienthusiast]

this is the only post i've seen talk about the parallels between them. i saw the same parallels on my first ever read and was confused why no one in the fandom ever brought it up.. and it's enhanced by the fact that you'd expect wylan to disrespect kaz (as he rightfully should), but he has such a level of respect for kaz that certain other characters don't really have.. and i think it's interesting especially since kaz was kind of the one who dragged him down this 'terrible' path.

and the fact that in ck kaz seems to have a 'soft spot' for kaz by which i mean in the van eck mansion heist scene he teaches wylan what his life views and values are, and wylan understanding and accepting those values later on, and it really drove the point that they're so similar yet so different.

like i think whenever kaz imparts his life's wisdom to others it's usually in kind of a condescending(?) or throwaway kind of way for example with matthias.. but with wylan it's more of an encouraging way. because kaz Does know what wylan's went through (even though it's not everything), and it's as if he's sympathising with wylan, and the reveal that kaz wanted to give wylan his father's fortune from the start. like he could've simply Not done that. but he knows what it feels like to want revenge. he knows what it feels like to be knocked so far down it feels impossible to climb back up. he knows the feeling of the world not owing you anything but you wanting to take from it anyway. he knows what it is to feel like you're carrying a life debt with you. where to channel the anger to. how to channel it. so he helps wylan acquire his revenge. but he doesn't do it by handing it out for free to wylan. he leaves him with choices, with words to rhink about, with actions to mull over.

he knew marya hendriks was alive. he let wylan think he go to saint hilde of his own accord, thinking it was his own decision that he was making, allowed wylan to nurture his grudge against his father. saying he doesn't care about wylan's disability, showing his father was in fact just a massive prick and that wylan wasn't anything less for being illiterate. the mini clash of ideals in the van eck mansion heist, with wylan not wanting to do more than is necessary and kaz telling wylan about how he views life. kaz saying "you do know we're stealing your momey, right?" at the beginning of the book and wylan only realising it at the auction.

yes, kaz planned a lot and he allowed for a lot of the things to happen, but these things happened in the first place because of wylan. it was wylan's will that allowed him to survive the harbour. it was wylan's will that he decided to seemingly go against kaz's orders and lie to him and discover his mother's fate. it was wylan that decided to go with the heist and break into the safe. it was wylan that put the final nail in the coffin for van eck when he revealed himself to the public during the auction. it was wylan, his actions and his acting that caused the ultimate downfall of his own father at the auction. because without him, the public couldn't ever be truly convinced. the safe couldn't be broken into. his mother would spend the rest of her days in saint hilde. kaz was a lever that allowed wylan to finally enact his revenge.

gosh i really love their dynamic in ck and it wasn't something i expected after soc. in fact in soc i wasn't really interested in wylan, but ck really turned the world upside down for me. i didn't expect so many parallels. i didn't expect wylan as a character to be so close to my heart. ck's set up for his character development was so beautiful and so natural that it made me realise just how far he's truly come. for the other crows, we are told their backstory and how they've come to be like this. but for wylan we actively see his life as a crow coming to fruition.

wylan isn't even one of my top favourite characters but his character (for me) was so masterfully handled it really absorbed into my heart. i can't believe he's the first character that i'm writing for lol but this post just really made me realise just how great wylan's character is

(warning: literary analysis ahead) i know i'm not the first person by far to say this, but there are so many similarities between kaz and wylan in six of crows and ESPECIALLY crooked kingdom.

there's obviously the big one of both of them having a re-birth type experience in the harbor, but that's not where the similarity stops. during my ck reread, i noticed that the reason kaz and wylan are in the harbor in the first place is because a father-like figure.

pekka rollins was a father-like figure to both kaz and jordie, and the book says this. the rietveld boys had just lost their father, and one of the big reasons pekka was able to scam jordie and kaz so well is because he provided them with a comforting and parental like space. kaz ofc eventually ends up in the harbor, and it can all be traced back to pekka rollins.

wylan has his rebirth in the harbor due to his father. the connection is more direct with his, but even then there are middle men and other things involved. but again, it can all be traced back to his father.

going off this thought, they both lost a close family member due to a father figure.

another big similarity i found that i feel like i haven't seen anyone talk about his what kaz and wylan are both motivated by: revenge.

wylan does not start off the books being motivated by revenge. he ends up in the barrel and with the crows out of a desperation to both hide from his father and because he genuinely has no where else to go. later on in ck, after wylan finds his mother at saint hilde, the book very clearly states that his motivation changes. at the begining of chapter 31, there's a scene where wylan is staring at himself in the mirror. there are lines that say, "What am I doing here? But he knew the answer. Only he could see his father punished for what he'd done. Only he could see his mother freed." which drives me INSANE!! because it's a DIRECT PARELLEL to things kaz says/feels about jordie!! in the chapter right before that (30) there's a line that says, "He'd found his way to shore, devoted himself to the vengeance he and his brother were owed." (there are other and better lines that reference wylan's "only he could *take revenge*" line, but this is just the closest one that comes to mind)

there are differences between their motives—you could say that kaz's revenge motive is more direct and violent—but there's also the fact that we see both kaz and wylan get their revenge in the book.

both kaz and wylan want revenge for one of their family members, and themselves, from what a father figure in their life has done.

they've also both been kidnapped by jan/held in captivity by him. i know this happens to inej too, but i think it's important that one of the first scenes we see with kaz is him negotiating with jan after being captured by him, and then towards the very end of the series, we (very simplified and on the surface) see the same thing happening to wylan. i know the two jan captivity scenes with kaz and wylan are very different, but i think the basic similarity of these scenes really attest to how far wylan has come and how much he's been assimilated into the crows.

there's also of course the part where wylan's expression is said to be something that looks kaz-like, which i feel also shows how far he's come and how he's truely developed into a crow.

in conclusion, as others have said, they truely are two sides of the same coin. they're so different but so alike, and i absolutely love how leigh bardugo was able to directly juxstapose wylan and kaz when they're so different on the surface.

[owlbeers]

Shadow and Bone season two thoughts

I tweeted a little as I watched, but I realised I wanted to put together my thoughts more longform, so here we go. In general: I liked it still but not as much as S1, I had Thoughts.

Spoilers for all of the season after the read more.

Idk maybe its the fact that they started referencing events from Crooked Kingdom - a source I care about a lot and um more than some of the other books - that I started to get pickier but I did.

To quickly get the Mal, Alina, Darkling, Nikolai plot of it all. I liked all the new casting (Nikolai took a little to grow on me, but Tolya and Tamar were great the whole way through). Generally I was fairly unmoved by it all, but this plot really isn't why I am watching the show. Genya gave me some feelings. Zoe Wannamaker is great. I preferred Ben Barnes' villain moments more in S1 but the end in the desert did make me feel a little bit.

I'll deal with the !!! end separately.

So, the Crows. I wasn't sure what I expected them to do - knowing that they wouldn't do The Ice Court - but idk I was a little surprised they mined Crooked Kingdom the way they did because in my mind it so clearly needs the events of SOC for emotional reasons for CK events to work, but I think they ... sort of pulled it off. Sort of.

I mean, they rushed the fuck out of it. I know they wanted to reunite the plots but I wanted more out of Kaz's revenge and yes we got a lot of investigation of Kaz's trauma but I wanted a bit more set-up for all the Crows. The cane fight was very good though. Freddy was great in the confrontation scene - so good - but I admit I missed the quiet of the book church scene and that only Inej saw it. Inej not being there, it being surrounded by lots of people ... it felt different.

The Kanej: they hinted at book stuff but it all just felt a little watered down. Yes we got the bandages scene but only nods to it because they're not really there yet emotionally, and yes he tried to get her out and got her freedom but I didn't really see the point in having that weird fight in the middle. Yes, he is pushing her away but it just seemed odd. The hallucination scene was feelings-y but kinda confusing in why they had that for Inej, but the recovery form it was nicely done with the softness in Kaz's eyes before the !!! sets in. However the final ep "I will have you without armour" scene was pretty great. And his looks when he saw her walk back with Alina and the sword! I love them.

Wesper: I liked Jack's Wylan from the get go and I thought him and Kit had good chemistry. Even with the plot changes I found them very cute and charming.

Also the bit where Jesper lists off how Kaz couldn't imagine doing this without him, and Kaz said yes all of that - but not the unlimited tab. I love me some Kaz and Jesper friendship.

Nina with the Crows was great. She doesn't take Kaz's bullshit and I loved the "there is five of us" moment at the end.

Matthias: welp sorry Calahan you had shit all to do. I did assume they were gonna get him out this season but uh guess that is for the Ice Court spinoff.

The end: haha they sure changed a lot there. A lot. Are they setting up something for S&B S3 and also SOC?? Now with Dark Alina in charge of Ravka and King of Scars Nikolai stuff?? Mal going away with Tolya, Tamar and Inej?? I liked that Inej is getting a pirate slave hunter moment (but I still need that Kanej boat scene. I need it). I guess they'll find a way to get her back? Will she get caught?? So many questions. So random.

I don't care about Mal x Alina really but uh if I did and that ending happened and I was expecting the R&R ending. Well.

Are they going to do a Tolya and Inej moment? I have mixed feelings.

Anyway in conclusion: I love the Crows! Some things were good! The actors were all great! But eh some choices I'm not sure about it. I need the Ice Court story though. Please Netflix.

Yes I have read book scenes and I might go hunt down some of my Kanej fic faves ...

[samthepotterhead]

this is it! I didn't expect this season to deviate so heavily from the books, but I actually kind of like it bc it means all coming seasons will have some surprises as well. I hope there is something good to come for the crows! (even though I loved soc and ck for what it was.) I couldn't really enjoy it at the beginning though, bc I was so confused all the time. so this time around the non-readers might have had a better experience than us.

[dollopheadsandclotpoles]

omg i liked s1 and I read six of crows afterwards and LOVED it. but whoah s2 is.. Not what I expected at all :(

I didn't even care for s1 (I was already a fan of the books when I watched it), but I am grateful that it got so many people to read the books because the duology deserves all the love ❤ Legit one of my absolute favourite book series ❤

But yeahhhh s2 is not it. It's so rushed and such a mess. Aside from messing up the characterisations for like half of the six, they did a speedrun of character and relationship development so that there's zero emotional depth left and they are just throwing in plot points from Soc and CK without any thoughts of how it will affect future narratives. So many of the plot points which were later used for emotional arcs are brought in here for NO purpose and don't land at all. Heleen and the whole Pekka Rollins thing played such a massive role in the heist, and they just brought those elements into this season and changed them completely just to have something to do. Jesper's secret reveal was done with such a lack of emotion whereas in the book the revelation was such a happy surprise for the audiences (and an indication of Kaz's cleverness) as well as having a weight behind it re: Jesper's personal feelings about being grisha.

I seriously cannot imagine these writers to be fans of the series, because they've really butchered the narrative

[teacup-tyrant]

Kaz Brekker & Loss of Purpose

Do you ever think about how Kaz and Inej's motivations and goals over the course of SoC & CK run completely opposite to each other? Because I'm having a lot of thoughts today.

Inej spent her time in the Dregs floundering with no aim, “demanding an aim to land true.” She found her motivation and goal during the series and it ends with her off to hunt slavers, aka fulfill her life's purpose.

Conversely, Kaz was hyperfixated on taking Pekka Rollins down and the series ends with him completing his goal. So what does he have left after that? I'm sure he's having a grand time with his multiple gambling halls and running the Dregs and whatever other schemes he gets up to but NONE of that is as grandiose as The Goal that he had worked towards for years. Now, he's the one who's supporting Inej's goal, and I have no doubt that he's playing an active role in helping her (from the hints that we get in RoW). I just... idk, I hope that's enough for Kaz's Big Brain. Kaz without a problem to solve kind of worries me.

Here is my best analogy: it's kind of like how once professional athletes retire, they have no idea wtf to do with their lives. They spend most of their life training and being focused on one goal and when that's suddenly gone, they have nothing left. If they don't find something else, a lot of them fall into bad fixations like drugs or crime and over 75% of them go bankrupt (I swear to god, that's an actual NFL stat). They often don't have enough help transitioning out of their careers and then literally do not know what to do with their lives. They're used to the emotional highs, the routine, and the attention. Once your whole purpose in life disappears (i.e. your career that you've worked towards your WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE ends), sometimes your self-worth disappears along with it, and you're left with an empty shell of a person with no direction unless they have a new venture to throw themselves into and a really good sports psychiatrist.

So, what do retired professional athletes have to do with our dear Bastard of the Barrel? Loss of purpose. If they don't find a new outlet, they fall apart. I'm not saying that would happen to Kaz (it definitely doesn't happen to every professional athlete; this is just a comparison). Obviously, I hope it doesn't. Maybe he falls into a rut and then finds glorious new purpose when a certain Queen of Ravka needs him to go on a Quest For An Ancient Artifact™. (that alone worries me bc it's SO cookie-cutter of a fantasy plot and I really hope there's more to it than that for a SoC 3 premise but that's another can of worms) But I think it's just an interesting point to bring up that sometimes you can work towards something your whole life and think the world will be ~perfect~ once you achieve it, but it doesn't always turn out that way. Greener grass on the other side and all that, you know?

WHO KNOWS. I SURELY DON'T.

But anyway, thank you for coming to my excessively long TED Talk about how Kaz is actually a retired NFL player. Bet you didn't ever expect that comparison.