#think about the kaz scenes !!! the eyeball scene girl

[rhaenyratargayen]

lanie and I were talking about this a few days ago but can you imagine if the potential six of crows spin-off was an hbo show?

[aleksanderscult]

Hii girlie I was thinking about our shadow child a bit ago. And I remembered two separate scenes from two separate characters, but are very similar (the scenes). And yet they have very opposite responses. I’m talking about when Aleksander put shadows into Baghra’s eyes, and when Kaz pulled out a man’s eyeball. I made my own (very) little take on it but I love how you analyse scenes, and would like to hear your opinion why they're seen differently. Thanks byee

Hey, bestie!! Thank you for your kind words! 🥹💗

Ah yes... One of my most favorite type of tea to spill. Hypocrisy ☕

In order to see why they're seen as different we'll have to analyse the circumstances first.

The Darkling

Betrayed by his mother, a woman that is constantly seen as old and frail, who sent away the girl he both fell in love with and wanted her power to protect his country and people. So basically she committed treason (and she got away with it really lightly, if you ask me. Hell. If the King had found out, he would have her beheaded in the spot).

The punishment? He clouded her eyes with the black mist of the Fold. Some even theorize that she could take away that mist with her own powers but she didn't (my own opinion in this, is that she couldn't). It was a punishment that the Darkling could reverse at any time.

How did he feel about it?

Well... I'll let these passages talk for themselves:

He was hurt that he had to do this to his mother. He didn't take any pleasure from it.

Kaz

He was ambushed by Oomen, a man that is portrayed as frightening and disgusting, and who tried to kill the woman Kaz was secretly in love with.

The punishment? He plucked out his eyes. No reversing option in that. 🤷

How did he feel about it?

Uhh...nothing?

Now the differences are the following:

1) Baghra is seen as a frail, old woman that helped the MC not fall into the jaws of the bad guy. While Oomen is seen as cruel, strong and dangerous:

and he tried to mess up with the MC's love interest.

2) The relation the victims have with the offender. Baghra was the Darkling's mother. So the fans ask "How could he do such a thing to his own mother?!?" While Oomen is nothing for Kaz. He was a character that came and went from this book.

3) The way the perpetrators are seen and "painted" by the narrative and author ('cause readers almost always get affected by it). The Darkling was seen as a terrifying figure that inspired fear and respect since the beginning of the book. Also, the fact that he was "revealed" to be a "manipulative, bad guy" by Baghra herself in the middle of the book did nothing to give a good light on him. On the contrary, it only enhanced the conviction of the reader that "Yes, he must be an evil bastard to do such a thing to his mother. Baghra was right and the people were right". On the other hand, we have Kaz who is seen as a frightening figure too but!

A) We have his POVs, so we can glimpse his actions and feelings first handed (the Darkling never had that chance. And THAT is why POVs are important!) and it's easier for the reader to see his own side of the story (with the Darkling we don't have his side of the story throughout the trilogy).

B) he's a bad guy that is secretly in love with a girl. And YA readers eat that shit up every time. They naturally act like: "Oh he's a bad boy that has a secret crush! He killed for her! So romantic! 😍😭". While with the Darkling, the readers think he did it because he's a jerk. And, as we all know, the majority of antis think he wasn't in love with Alina. So he only punished his mother because of his "evil fury" and for the fact that she took away his chance to gain more power.

So Kaz has the advantage because he had the opportunity to show himself through his POVs and is "painted" by the author as cruel but badass and in love with a girl. While poor Aleksander never had one POV from that trilogy so we don't know his own side of the story and the author mostly "paints" him as an evil mastermind.

Oh! And let's see the aftermath of what happened after Oomen got thrown overboard!

Aha... He threatened one of his gang members to shut up otherwise...

And let's not forget how Kaz promised Oomen two things!

*five minutes later Oomen gets yeeted*

*five seconds later Kaz throws Oomen's ass to the depths of the black sea*

Kaz didn't feel anything while for the Darkling it pained him to do this to his mother. He didn't want to but she turned out to be a traitor who took away his hope, his joy and the girl he loved. In R&R he even offered to take her back home and I bet he felt even more regret for what he did to her after she committed suicide.

Do the Math yourselves 🙂

[inkbirdie]

Why is no one talking about Kaz's new cane??

When I watched episode eight, I immediately noticed this at the end and assumed there would be posts and theories galore about it. But ig i have to do everything myself >:|

So for the first season and most of the second, Kaz carries a cane with a gold crow topper. This is a sculpted crow head with feather details, a medium-sized beak, and a jewel eye.

But in his last scene (i think), he carries a cane with a completely different, intricately textured shaft, topped with a long-beaked silver crow skull.

This is very interesting and telling for me in terms of his growing character and internal strife at this point in the story! Inej is away, she has refused his advances because of his complete emotional unavailability and lack of a good coping mechanism for his grief and trauma. (Mans needs a therapist stat.) In this scene, he tells a Dreg to start hiring out girls who work at the Menagerie, namely one named Kesh, who Inej mentioned in early season one as her informant for Drussen's (later revealed to actually be Nikolai's) job. He's actually accepting and implementing Inej's advice, which he basically never does, enormous simp that he is. Clearly, he's pining and in his emo boy era (though one could argue he's been this way since day one).

The cane is also silver rather than gold, and I might be reading too much into it, but it could represent his shifting motivation. He's moving away from money, towards what really matters: the friends we make along the way (I'm talking of Inej, of course *Jesper wink*). Though, of course, we still have the Ice Court heist! But the silver and the skull definitely have hidden meanings. Kaz (iconically) told Pekka that when he and Jordie got firepox after being robbed and scammed, they both died. But one of them (Kaz. obviously.) was reborn. I mean, what part of Kaz does not play into his trauma?? He literally got an R tattooed on him. A cane that nods to his past, his rebirth, and his new way of life (such as forcefully removing eyeballs when someone looks at his girl wrong) is completely possible.

Also we've been complaining about the gold cane since day one, so. Maybe someone in props got sick of it. Who knows. Add your ideas!! I'm dumb and I miss things!!! Anyway his new cane is sick as hell and I can't wait to watch him smack people with it in the crows spin-off (keep rewatching s2 so we get it! it sucks ik but that's how it is :|) and look really really cool while doing it.

[jazon-todd]

Okay, just look at this scene for a sec.

Disclaimer: all of the gifs in this post come from this wonderful gifset by floraflorenzi.

Okay, SO. I know we've been talking about the kanej scene by the fire, and his "I need you" and "I only invest in one of a kind" confessions. But this one needs to be talked about too since I love it so much.

It doesn’t show in this gif, but here, she’s getting off the barstool she’s on and inadvertently steps closer to him. But where we’ve seen from his interactions before, he doesn’t step back. He also doesn’t break eye contact with her, nor does he for the entirety of the series. A+ Freddy carter.

AND her eyes flit down to his lips, even if it’s for only a second. I’m always a slut for that.

The close up of her face in this shot… I don’t think I need to explain that close ups like this imply closeness and intimacy. Also, her voice was very soft when she repeated his words back to him.

The way she offers the dagger to him, and there’s a hesitation before he reaches out to grab it… it’s SOFT OKAY

And girl… just LOOK at the way they look at each other here. The way they lock eyes the WHOLE TIME when she reaches down to grab the knife from the holster near her knee? The way his face is still hard but his eyes are not?

For a relationship like Kaz and Inej, where they don’t ever kiss or lay all over each other or sleep together, even when they may want to eventually have a chance to do one or even all of the above, this was still really sexy. And it’s why I like them so much, because these scenes that are nothing special to some couples become, like, crazy intimate for kanej. And I’m LIVING for it. I just KNOW I’m going to pass out when we see THAT scene from crooked kingdom.

And look… HER FINGER TOUCHES HIS HAND.

ITS UNDER HER DAGGER AND IT DOESN’T FALL COMPLETELY INTO HIS HAND UNTIL SHE REMOVES IT.

AND HE DOESN’T FLINCH AWAY.

Look this might be a total reach. It might not be on purpose by production and an accident on the actors… But I put my tin hat on for this and WHY would they give us a close up of her only giving him TWO DAGGERS. WHY would the focus be on their hands barely touching yet BLUR EVERYTHING ELSE. The way her finger is slipped under the dagger is too awkward for it to NOT be on purpose. And she holds her hand in place for a beat longer than someone normally would, too.

But I want to have hope this was done on purpose because they’ve done such a good job at showing Kaz’s phobia, and we know they do more than just graze hands like this in the future. We know kaz pushes his limits when it comes to inej, and I know that this kaz and inej are nowhere even near the kaz and inej that have the bathroom scene in crooked kingdom, but this is just… nice, seeing them share this sliver of a moment that he refuses to share with anyone else.

In conclusion, this scene is really intimate and it might be the first time we see kaz and inej touch with our very own eyeballs. I just love them, your honor

[dwellordream]

ok now i'm really curious about what you'd think of s&b the show, mainly the crows. not to drag you into the discourse, but many ppl feel that kaz was done dirty because he's characterized a bit softer and is less of an impossibly infallible badass. seems like a lot of readers really buy into his gangster image

???? Anon I’m sorry but though I am reading Six of Crows the book I have never seen Shadow and Bone the show and I have zero intentions of watching it anytime soon? I didn’t mean to give off the impression I was reviewing the show? The book is enough for me haha.

My impression of Kaz the book character is that he is a thinly sketched pastiche of various violent loner gangster archetypes from popular media, including Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders and Michael Corleone from The Godfather.

What I think Bardugo does well in the books is the flashbacks to his childhood. They are genuinely compelling and work well to establish Ketterdam as a setting.

What I think she doesn’t do well is present Kaz. It’s not that he’s not a likable character; I don’t expect to like a gangster. It’s that he’s not a compelling character or a believable one.

I don’t buy that someone who talks as much shit and is as ungrateful and even threatening to his allies as him could accumulate enough good will and positive rep among his fellow gangbangers to become the leader of a popular street gang at the age of 17.

He variates between Marvel movie style quips and scenes of intense violence. Bardugo keeps suggesting he has feelings for Inej but the chemistry is nonexistent, it’s very much ‘boy is mean to girl he likes’ and ‘she likes him because... he’s hot’.

His trauma regarding touch and space is not nearly as explored as it should be, and the physical impediment and chronic pain of his bad leg comes and goes when it’s plot convenient.

In summary, I think the author herself buys into her own character’s hype a little too much. Six of Crows is supposed to be an ensemble novel but honestly it’s very much the Kaz show, and Kaz isn’t a nuanced enough character to hold it all together. Other characters like Inej and Jesper are desperately underwritten and undeveloped because of this.

I have no idea how he’s portrayed in the show, if they tried to give him some more nuance or if he’s woobifed into the latest soft bad boy of the week or what. I suspect Netflix is not going to let him tear a guy’s eyeball out with is bare hands on a show they’re heavily marketing to kids.

But I suspect that’s really not the core of it. What’s probably the core of it is that the actor doesn’t look half as hot as the character fans built up in their heads, and that’s always a very big deal with adaptations, from breast size to cheekbone angles to level of hair lusciousness.

[imaheartbrekker]

THINGS I NOTICED WHILE REREADING SIX OF CROWS

- Ok why is Jesper’s crush on Kaz SO FREAKING OBVIOUS??

- The angst between Nina and Matthias HURTS

-�� “He needed to know she believed in him” KAZ, YOU ADJHFHGFIYD

- THAT GIRL TALK BETWEEN NINA AND INEJJJJJJ

- More importantly, Wylan is the smolest (is that a word?) cinnamon roll ever AND I LOVE THAR HE’S GONNA TURN INTO A SINNAMON ROLL AYAYAY

- (Jesper and Inej talking about how Kaz was like a hive of bees)

“So what are we doing here?”

Jesper turned back to the sea, feeling his cheeks heat. “Hoping for honey, I guess. And praying not to get stung.”

Inej bumped her shoulder with his. “Then at least we’re both the same kind of stupid.”

...

THAT SCENE

SO BASICALLY THEY WERE LOWKEY CRUSHING ON KAZOO TOGETHER

- AND KAZ WAS WATCHING THEM TALK THE WHOLE TIME 

- “He didn’t want Inej. He just wanted their routine back.” yeah you definitely did not just think Inej’s name when she asked you about what you wanted mhmmmm

- Jesper and Nina’s friendship so so good lol

- But Jesper and Inej’s friendship is so pure 💗💗

- MY WAFFLE QUEEN IS SAD NOOOOOOOO

- KAZ ADDRESSING THE WRAITH AS THE LOVELY INEJ WHEN HE WAS INTRODUCING EVERYONE TO MATTHIAS

- Sad lil lovestruck puppy has called her as HIS Wraith

- Kaz de-eyeballing Oomen is still one of my most favorite scenes ever.

And that’s all for today, ladies and gentlemen. Hope you’ve been fed. 

[ariadnebridgestock]

18 chapters done with six of crows! some thoughts:

i can't believe i am really out here rooting for um...outlaws? IT'S AGAINST MY MORALS but i love!

besides it's a fantasy world (as i keep reminding myself) so it's fine. nerve wrecking though (more so than usual anyway, reading is always nerve wrecking)

it's really different from what i've read, i didn't think i'd like it that much but i. could. not. stop. reading.

that scene...kaz...eyeball...oof...i was wylan...bleh

matthias is...unpleasant. am i suppose to like him? he's getting a bit better after like the backstory with nina & him but anyway, these two got problems

kaz definitely likes inej and she likes him too right?

there's something there with wylan & jesper too, like there's potential...their interactions are hilarious lmao

(i already roughly know the main ships in the fandom so yeah, unclear to me if kaz & inej are canon tho)

inej : i love her!!! also how cool, one of her knives is named sankta alina??? *cries* i miss my girl so much

kaz : i love him!!! he's so smart & mysterious...

nina : we love a girl who loves cake, also something familiar from the grisha trilogy, she's a heartrender!!!

oh oh oh & that zoya and nikolai mentions ahhhhh

wylan : perhaps the one i can relate to the most, love

jesper : love him too!!! his way with guns' damn cool

yep i pretty much love them all, they're all really fantastic characters with great character depth, interesting backstories which i will know more about as i continue. i'm terrified of them but i still love them

[thequibblah]

Hellooo Shadow & Bone/Six of Crows anon back because I have thoughts about your thoughts and physically need to talk about this show. I am also so ???? about the show giving Inej a brother I don't really get where they are going with it they kinda dropped that line and then moved right along. I also didn't love the change they made with Inej not being bought out from Heleen? I felt like they could've added a similar tension to what they did with that plot line just by keeping it with Per Haskell and then managed to incorporate him imo but beggars can't be choosers. I *get* why they had to soften show!kaz but I also just really wanted to see more absolutely feral Kaz so it was just a dilemma. It has been literal years since I read Shadow and Bone so I know nothing about those characters but was also deeply uncomfortable with the Darkling sleeping with Zoya implication and just the Darkling altogether why is this ancient man in a teenage love triangle.

spoilers under the cut as well as abuse mentions/grooming mentions sort of please let me know if you’d like me to tag this something else too!

oh yeah i forgot about the heleen thing! agree i don’t know if show viewers could parse that like why... is she on loan....who’s paying for her contract... it didn’t make a ton of sense. her brother... hmm!

but i am still holding out hope for kaz ripping out oomen’s eyeball so we’ll see! i’ve seen others say they thought kaz got toned down so he didn’t come off a villain (since he’s sharing screen time with the darkling) which might’ve been part of it for sure

look i know the dark/linas are wilding out here on an everyday basis BUT as someone who’s read the books quite a lot — it becomes increasingly obvious on each successive reread that he’s not supposed to be read as a love interest. he was obviously a villain, a manipulative older man you’re supposed to be wary of even as he wins an impressionable young girl over. like, he stops being a prospective love interest literally at the end of s&b — for the rest of the series it’s preeeetty obvious that alina won’t become evil and help him, and even the nugget of possibility that he’ll be redeemed isn’t really, like, in a love triangle-y sense. i thought the show played that really well, and it’s a testament to ben barnes’s acting. he toed the line between scary and humanised so well (particularly in that kiss scene, which he improvised) and i have no doubt he will get much scarier in future seasons (which tracks with the books as well). again in the context of genya’s warning “beware of powerful men” the darkling is...a well-written villain, to me! add to all of that in-text context the fact that the author talks about how she wrote the books thinking of an abusive relationship she was trapped in....that’s no longer subtext!

like, any good love triangle represents not just “ooo which boy do i love” but also a philosophy of life the heroine is deciding between (see the hunger games). what i like about this “triangle” (or rather, square???) is that alina has several “choices”: 1. the darkling, unbridled power, rule by fear and respect; 2. mal, her childhood dreams, safety, peace, understanding, a home; 3. nikolai, repair and rebuilding, responsibility, idealism, power with checks and balances, rule by mutual respect. 

but it becomes clear to alina that “choice” #1 is not a choice — it robs her of autonomy — and she struggles to think what autonomy will be offered to her with #3 too. i’m not defending the trilogy’s ending, which i’ll forever be HMMMM about, but i think there is 100% a purpose to the darkling being in this triangle and the show is so far doing a better job (perhaps with the benefit of hindsight plus the uh character improvements to mal showing him as a viable romantic alternative lmfao) with hinting at that, to me!

also i’m guessing if you haven’t read the trilogy in a while you probably haven’t read the follow-up series. but i’ll just say it’s abundantly clear that zoya saw the darkling as a mentor figure and felt betrayed by his evilness as a student and someone who looked up to him. i feel sorry that they’ve decided to change that perspective

i have strong opinions LMAO