chives enthusiast

might just turn into a six of crows blog oops!

[ace-misplaced]

in the wise words of wylan van eck: WhatamIdoingherewhatamIdoingherewhatamIdoinghere?

[whydatewhenyoucanhyperfixate]

matthias and wylan, the friendship we saw wayyyy too little of :( show me them bonding over being outsiders in the crows. show me them drawing the maps together. show me them nerding out over the ferolind. show me matthias telling wylan fun facts about fjerda and wylan telling matthias fun facts about kerch. show me matthias laughing over how wylan would literally fit inside him twice. show me them trying to unlearn all the harsh words that have been said to them. show me them bonding over how their father figures both betrayed them. show me wylan showing off his schoolroom fjerda and matthias correcting his pronunciation. show me matthias forgetting/not knowing a word in kerch and wylan helping him. give me more them :((

[green-oni0ns]

ok everyone knows just how tremendously autistic wylan van eck is, but HOW have i never noticed how autistic MATTHIAS is??!?!?! (spoiler alert it's because wylan has the exact same autism as me and i thus failed to see matthias for what he is. my sincerest apologies, matthias)

[kichterlette]

I‘ve been thinking a lot about how Jesper‘s arc felt so much less satisfying and people‘s very valid criticism of it. I haven‘t figured it all out, but one thing that makes him stand out from the others Crow‘s backgrounds is that his struggles come completely from within. While all of the other Crows have been Done Wrong TM by some external force - imprisoned, enslaved, robbed, hunted, abused - Jespers „downfall“ to the Barrel comes from his internal struggles: his addiction und impulsivity.

While he may not be at fault for what he is dealing with, he also has noone else to blame - no Pekka Rollins, no Jan van Eck, no Tante Helene, no Brum, no Nina. The only wrongdoing he has encountered - being made ashamed and afraid of his powers by his father - was done from a place of genuine care for his well-being, no matter what you might think of his decision.

And I think all of that makes Jesper's character arc much harder to resolve. All the other Crows win by outdoing their enemy (or forgiving them in case of Matthias). Jesper has noone to outdo. There is no enemy to best. There is just ... himself. So his story would need to have an entirely different focus.

[rockrwuff]

osha!!!

[oddandalarmingsexualfeelings]

trans wylan van eck trans wylan van eck trans wylan van eck trans wylan van eck trans wylan van eck trans wylan van eck trans wylan van eck trans wylan van eck

[cryptidstealingyourcreditcard]

jesper fahey has doe eyes nothing can change my mind

[avvilo]

the removal of all mentions of the crows ages from the dregs editions is genuinely one of the worst choices leigh bardugo has ever made. the youth of every character is so crucial to their stories.

kaz is not an angry adult man who can’t let go of a grudge, he’s a teenager who lost his brother only a few years ago who’s still grieving, but is still naive enough to believe that fathers must love their sons.

inej is not a strong adult woman, she is a child still, forced to grow up too fast and fend for herself. her optimism despite the shitty hand fate dealt her has so much to do with her youth.

jesper is not an adult man who can’t control himself. he is young and reckless and grieving his mother and suppressing one of the most important parts of himself.

wylan isn’t a grown man too sheltered to leave his fathers house despite being well past the age he should’ve left by. he was sixteen when his father tried to kill him the first time, young and still hopeful that his father must love him enough to send him to school to make music, the one thing he truly loves.

and nina and matthias were carefully groomed by their countries to maintain their biases from a young age. they are literal child soldiers. their change is so much more impactful because of their age.

and kuwei?? a literal child being held captive by the fjerdan government for the actions of his father, frightened and too intelligent.

and all this isn’t to say that being an adult would make any of their circumstances less tragic. but these characters were originally written as children. Their character arcs, personality, quirks, dialogue, everything was written to align with the fact that they are children. Changing that ten years later just creates a weird dissonance between the characterization of the Crows and their described age.

it infuriates me to strip these characters of their youth when their age is so tightly woven into their personalities and character arcs.

[unicorngunter]

Even when the cold comes crashing through

I’m putting all my bets on you

I hope they never understand us

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Inej: Why didnt you tell me!?

Jesper: I was sworn to secrecy! But I also just kinda forgot

[cryptidstealingyourcreditcard]

i wish we could’ve learned more about matthias’s family before they died, so here’s some headcanons of what they were like:

papa helvar was big and burly. his hair was brownish-blond and going grey, and he had stubble that never fully grew into a beard. he would lift matthias onto his shoulders, even when he started to grow older and bigger. he taught matthias how to whittle and carve wood. he was kind to every creature, and often would be seen nursing small animals back to health. he took pride in his small vegetable garden. he hated the druskelle. he loved sheep.

mama helvar was tall and muscular. her hair was long and so blonde it was almost white. she would sing matthias lullabies and tuck him into bed with a little stuffed wolf every night. she would chase matthias around the house, and when she caught him, would shower him with tickles and kisses while he squirmed and complained through giggles. when she was pregnant, matthias would give her massages and bring her little gifts of flowers and food and stay by her side as long as he could get away with. she called him “mattie”. she loved wolves.

baby helvar was small for her age (i read a fic once that named her clara, and ive called her clara ever since). she was very vocal, always squealing and giggling and babbling until she learned to talk, and then she was always talking. she was always cold, and hated snowstorms. she adored matthias. they were best friends, even though she was seven years younger than him. they had the same blue-grey eyes and white-blond eyelashes. she loved jumping on matthias, trying to tackle him, but he never fell. she was best friends with the neighbor’s daughter, who adored matthias as well. she loved foxes, but was afraid of their screams at night.

[green-oni0ns]

something that has always stuck with me about kaz's backstory is the matter-of-fact way he narrates his memory of his father's death, with no reaction to the absolute gruesomeness of it. i read it as an implication that little nine-year-old kaz saw the body in all of its gore and horror, and yet he seems to hold no leftover emotions about how terrible that must have been. because he's been through so, so much worse, and after everything that he went through, seeing his father's viscera literally strewn across the ground barely affected him anymore.

[mr-jammed-toast]

failed experiment

[polartss]

Wesper first kiss let’s goo🌼🌼🌼

This was made for Illumicrate’s special edition of Crooked Kingdom!

[green-oni0ns]

rereading crooked kingdom has me SHOCKED to remember that nina and matthias didn't kiss for the first time until literally like halfway through crooked kingdom!??!?! i cannot be the only one who forgot about this right why do we not talk about this

[gabeofcrows]

kaz is wylan's dad- WRONG

kaz and wylan are brothers, but in the way that kaz has always been a younger brother and wylan was always an only child, so even though kaz is older, they're both bouncing between both older/younger brother roles on a daily basis

kaz ragebaites wylan. wylan gets mad when kaz does something reckless. kaz gets protective over wylan constantly. fights people on the other's behalf. gets mad because 'i can look after myself!'. spend half thr day arguing about something stupid, then don't apologise, they just go and get coffee. falling asleep on each other. having deep conversations at 3am then arguing the next morning. having stupid competitions over the stupidest things (it drives jesper insane). kaz secretly looks up to wylan. wylan secretly looks up to kaz. they express it by flicking peas at each other across the table whenever kaz comes over for dinner

[southdiamond89blogging]

...Is this a safe space for me to say that I don't think Wylan joining the Merchant Council was the best ending for his character?