I wish I had the level of confidence or smarts to talk about this in long form, but I genuinely think a large part of the bias against Kalim is fueled by the two simple facts of he is a brown character who is rich, and that he takes his trauma on the chin. In terms of social position at the school, he's fourth place. Im gonna elaborate about them cause all three of the others are given much less shit by fandom spaces and by the narrative. Hes treated like hes the top of the school financially and social power wise, but he isn't.
As much as certain fans like to push it, Kalim is not a prince, he is the son of a wealthy business man. Having family marry into a royal family does not have that royalty travel up or down the line like that. If you marry a royal, you become one, but your family isnt suddenly part of the royal family. Higher ranking in social circles, yes. But not royalty. but thats its own post. Anyway. The three people who politically, financially and socially outrank Kalim
Malleus being first, as he is a future King of a kingdom, whos dorm is literally comprised by his serving class (who we ignore because ~theyre just a happy family~), While I would love to discuss the somantic differences of Sebek and Silvers positions here and hiw they compare and contrast to Jamils position. Thats not my point right now. My point is Malleus is a literal king, with an entire kingdoms worth of wealth and influence, not to mention magic power. But we rarely hear the characters say much about it other than his magical power. Malleus is not boiled down to his wallet, nor is he expected to care for himself entirely solo.
Leona being second as a Prince second in line for his throne and will likely never take it but his wealth and power is juxtaposed by his lack of interest in taking any interest in taking care of himself. He is shown narratively as a smart person and is respected by the narrative despite the fact he literally pays ruggie to do a large part of self care for him that should already know as a 20 year old.
Third, is Idia. Him and Kalim are definitely tied for wealth, and social influence. While Idia himself has no interest in social sectors, his family owns a private military force he can use, and an entire island. Its literally a large portion of the plot being Idia has far reaching hands in places with his family whether he likes it or not and he has to do Shroud things. I wonder where weve heard that before (duty of the Asim heir)
All three of these boys get a fraction of shit that Kalim does. Kalim is not held to the same standard as his peers. And part of it is fandom bias towards white passing characters. I cannot attest to this well, as I am a cracker, and I kmow my view of things will always be colored by privilage. But the fact that the white characters who have near identical backstory beats or even have it lesser will be cooed and coddled while threatening Kalim for ruining Jamils life in the same breath is very telling yall. Its also worth mentioning the heavy hand of the author, who does similar things, where Malleus and Idia will have 100+ chapters to talk about their feelings while book 2 and 4 remain some of the most contentious when it comes to writing.
the second part i can dig into a little and I think its the fact that Kalim is put through actual literal hell and he takes it on the chin and doesnt sulk and thus people in fandom are less likely to pity him, and those who do pity him tend to horseshoe swing in the opposite direction of having him sulk too. I find myself in this fallacy too sometimes if I dont catch myself. Fandom loves sad angry little guys who cope and mald and seethe. And the twist cast is FULL of them, even characters who act like they dont but theg definitely DO. I think this especially comes into play with the three above and their social outrank of Kalim.
People tend to forget they do because theyre so fucking miserable in their position in a narrative sense, while Kalim is silent about his struggles in most cases. He is shut down by the narrative on multiple occassions by people just not getting it or telling him how great his life is. A fallacy we dont see as much with the other housewardens. And i rewlly think its because of the fact the other three hate fucking being here. they hate their position and their lives and they never shut up about it. Even Malleus who is also a bit of the "taking it as it is" is so macabre about his status of being invited to things it never occurs to him that he can just do it himself.
And part of it is narrative bias. They are hyperbole of disney characters, so for the sake of the narrative certain jokes will always remain. And its also worth examining the biases of the creator, who clearly has favorite characters so of course they spend more time with their story while leaving others entirely in anecdotes and to be basically just jokes about how deep their pockets are. Its worth remembering as a Scarabia fan, that Kalim is not narratively taken seriously.
Idia and Malleus are very clearly stand out fan favorites for the sad wet damaged white boy, and while Leona is the bad boy prince. And then you have Kalim, whos just the WORST why cant he learn basic social queues (hes narratively actively trying to in story) and why does he expect others to do his work for him (he doesnt) and why does he make Jamil do everything for him (he doesnt, Jamil explicitly on multiple occasions tells him to leave it to him).
Theres also something to be saud about the fact that the only way in this fandom for emotional shit to be taken seriously is by overblot or by having a piss poor attitude about it, and the fallacy of the character is smiling through it so theyre fine that causes some deep seeded shit to just be ignored (see treys serious identity issues, kalims life being constantly under threat as some examples) but i feel like ive already went on for long enough.
I dont have a major point here, i have more posts i want to make eventually (curse you @hamu-twst you inspirational motherfucker) I feel like im missing something sometimes ya know? Like everyone just agrees on this stuff in a lot a cases and im sitting like... did i miss text am I stupid? Its likely but still.
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