Where Art Reflects Madness

Books and characters I see pieces of myself in. My particular brand of lonely and self loathing

[softgnome]

Personally I do think that sometimes non-hockey fans can end up mischaracterizing Shane and Ilya because they don't know enough about hockey/hockey playstyles

The Ilya we see in Heated rivalry would not be throwing the first punch, he's not an enforcer. Ilya is a star center and a Pest. He wouldn't be doing his job correctly if he was punching players every other game, it would end up with not enough ice time to let him be the playmaker he's paid to be.

But being a pest can be playmaking! Find a player to bait, emotionally push them just enough that they try to fight you, and then get the fuck out of there before the ref gives you both penalties. This gets your team the power play. There is probably someone on Ilya's line dedicated to helping him get out of the fights he starts, and finishing them for him!

I also think this is also something that Shane would respect. Ilya is good at it and it's a good strategy for his team. I don't think Shane would see it as some dirty tactic, because Shane probably thinks everyone with a brain can see it for what it is! He probably thinks everyone should be able to see that being an asshole is a tactic for Ilya, that it's something to ignore and not fall for, that it's a strategy and not personal beef.

I think Shane's more disappointed when a Metro falls for it. Shane sees it as Ilya set up a Looney Toons ass obvious trap and one of his teammates ran into it. Why be mad at Bugs Bunny when you can be mad at your defenceman for falling for a fucking Bugs Bunny trap.

[tarawitht]

This is your daily reminder that canon Shane Hollander never showed any sings of ´femininity’ as a social concept. Never showed any child like quirks. Had a lot of close friends and bagged some hot people. Is very horny and foul mouthed and out freaked Ilya multiple times.

So yeah, I don’t know why a part of this fandom likes to feminize or infantilise him.

[mymansmoon]

imagine you're ilya rozanov and you get to fuck shane hollander on the reg. the greed of men.

[mina-logan]

Jane + Lily ⭐️

[byndebondry]

“You shouldn’t make friends with crows,” he’d told her.

“Why not?” she asked.

He’d looked up from his desk to answer, but whatever he’d been about to say had vanished on his tongue.

🐦‍⬛

Inej Ghafa from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

[sorryforthebonyelbows]

Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Richard Siken, Crush (Little Beast)

George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire)

Margaret Atwood

Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

Yves Olade, Bloodsport

[colchiansiren]

No but YOU don't understand. Peeta, who's never been anyone's priority being Katniss’ first choice in all three books is something very important to me.

In The Hunger Games, when Peeta's name was called in the reaping, no one volunteered for him including his older brother who is not only old enough to participate but also a better wrestler than him. Even in the arena, Haymitch chose to keep Katniss alive over him. And the only person who prioritised him was Katniss herself. She chose to keep him alive when he was dying. She chose to die with him by eating the poisonous berries. She chose to go as far as defying the Capitol and President Snow to protect him.

In Catching Fire, once again, we heard his family would mourn if he died but they'll eventually move on. Other victors only keep him alive to form an alliance with Katniss. And Peeta still got captured by the Capitol in the end. But Katniss’ first priority was keeping Peeta alive. She made a pact with Haymitch to protect him. She was ready to kill Finnick or anyone on the spot if they dared to hurt him. She clawed Haymitch for not rescuing him over her. She became suicidal when he was captured.

In Mockingjay, Peeta lost his family. Then President Coin and other rebels didn't want to keep him (and other captured tributes) alive. And the only person who was visibly devastated over his capturing and hijacking was Katniss, again. And in the end, she finally chose him over Gale. And ultimately chose to be with him for the rest of her life. She gave him the family he lost and he became the family she lost.

“No one really needs me,” he says, and there's no self pity in his voice. It's true his family doesn't need him. They will mourn him, as will a handful of friends. But they will get on. Even Haymitch, with the help of a lot of white liquor, will get on. I realise only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.

“I do,” I say. “I need you.”

— Catching Fire

[ilovedorianhavilliard-deactivat]

Everyone: calling Nina the Drama Queen.

In the meantime Kaz: "My mother is Ketterdam. She birthed me in the harbor. And my father is profit. I honor him daily."

He's an ✨ICON✨ and we love him

[losingmymuchness]

He rips out one eye and everyone forgets what a nerd he actually is.

He does close up magic and card tricks.

And he talks like a theater kid.

[red-as-rain]

the crows: *existing*

kaz: caw caw motherfuckers, it's heist time

[mszenik]

Inej: We all have our demons.

Inej: *grabbing Kaz* This one’s mine.

[lifeofbrybooks]

Something I adore in Crooked Kingdom is the parallels between Kaz and Inej as performers.

“You square your shoulders before you start a move as if you’re about to perform, like you’re waiting for the audience’s attention.”

AND

“Kaz slipped free like a magician escaping a straight jacket in a show on East Stave.” … “He spread his gloved hands wide. Again Inej thought of a magician. Nothing up my sleeves.”

Inej has never hidden away the fact she was a performer. It’s an integral part of her character and a connection to the girl she was before she was kidnapped by slavers; while Kaz’s whole persona is a performance to cover up the wounded boy he is was but also a poke at his innocent fascination for magic as a young child.

Just two deeply scarred individuals putting on a show for a cruel world that would never stop insisting on another encore.

[losingmymuchness]

So I saw some people on bookTok discussing Ninth House and I was kind of shocked by some of their criticisms but there was one that really stuck with me…

I saw some people say Bardugo tried too hard to be dark in her content by making Alex’s trauma explicit but failed to give the character any justice, but my response is that the entire present day timeline is Alex’s justice…. Alex was abused and violated by something the most privileged people she knew saw as a gift. It is a widely known horrible part of our reality that the world doesn’t believe or protect victims, it doesn’t protect women. The fact that so many people saw her trauma even if she didn’t want them to and completely wrote her off so they didn’t have to deal with what it meant, is the most realistic part of her character. She was poor, a woman of color, homeless at more than one point in her life…I can think of nothing more realistic that her not getting feasible, malleable justice. But to say she got none at all would be wrong, Alex’s justice was cosmic and metaphorically and more meaningful than some get in the real world, she gained a different sense of self worth imprinting herself onto Tara’s circumstances, fighting to find out what happened to tara meant acknowledging that she and Alex were one in the same— at least in The sense that the world values them the same, she became attached to Tara because she saw herself in a dead body that no one else seemed to care about and couldn’t help but imprint on that experience. Alex knew the world valued her and Tara the same, she saw the parallels between Tara and herself and yet she still came to the conclusion that Tara deserved better than what she got in death, and in life. Those thoughts are more kind than Alex was to herself on a normal basis, and maybe they wouldn’t have meant anything if Alex wasn’t the narrator but she was, she was the one aligning their value, and ultimately accepting that she deserved better than what she got out of life…Alex’s justice was aligning her value with every victim belbam took and saying that they all deserved better.

[mistylakeee]

I want to know what it was like when Kaz was training Inej the first year they met. The banter? The arguing? The late nights eating dinner together? Kaz learning that Inej’s angry face is adorable? Kaz making Inej laugh? Inej making Kaz laugh? Did Kaz ever get decked in the face and have to pretend like it didn’t hurt the shit out of him? These are the thoughts that keep me up at night.

[losingmymuchness]

No but can you imagine Inej when Kaz gave her the first dagger?? Can you imagine Kaz when he finds out she named it?

[nicolodigenovas]

If Wylan was really the uwu soft boy the fandom paints him to be Kaz Brekker would have thrown him out of the tank with no hesitation the moment they exited the Ice Court. But no. So don’t make me throw you out of the tank as we exit the Ice Court, I will not hesitate

[losingmymuchness]

He is quite literally baby Kaz,

Out of everyone, Wylan was with KAZ when both antagonists were going on and on about legacies and babies.

He is kaz’s baby.

And the comparison to David in RoW confirms it too

[nicolodigenovas]

Sorry if I answer like this, but I enjoy seeing different opinions under my posts.

I wouldn’t call him baby Kaz because: 1) Wylan is literally just one/two years younger than Kaz and not a baby; 2) Wylan does have a moral compass that, though not the one you and I would have —he can be ruthless—, is very different than Kaz’s; 3) Kaz is 17 and never thinks of having a heir??; 4) the whole point of the original post is that Wylan isn’t anyone’s baby.

Kaz sees the potential in Wylan and similarities with himself, and he helps him work to fulfil his potential. I agree that the two have a lot of common traits, and even if the differences between the two lessen as Wylan gets more acquainted with the criminal world, Wylan never becomes a full time criminal of the Barrel. It would be a disservice to both imo to consider Wylan as a Kaz-to-be, when the two are complex characters with very different ambitions.

[losingmymuchness]

You’re right my wording was bad, but it felt like the only way , in my head at least, to really draw attention to the parallels between the two… and while I agree that obviously Kaz isn’t anywhere in the mindset of having an heir, wylan and kaz both being present when Van Eck and Rollins talk about their legacy is very important, in that it calls out that wylan is more of a protege than another crow, he is kaz’s protege, their dynamic is different from everyone else despite him learning from everyone.

and you’re also right in that he will never become what Kaz sees himself as, you’re right that they have very different ambitions but I would argue that they’re defining purposes are a lot more similar than people realize, survival and destroying the perception of weakness. Kaz obviously being others perceptions of his weaknesses and wylan being his perception of his own weaknesses

He’ll also never be like Kaz in the sense that the sense of togetherness and family was something that coincided with him being brought into the six, kaz came up isolated and even by the end still barely trusts it…

So we agree on more than we disagree, and I did misspeak but I genuinely think my 1st comments were just me overvaluing the importance of wylan’s realization of his own strength, which he did through a lot of imitation of kaz’s explanations of survival….I loved that subplot and overall I enjoyed seeing someone post about the importance of wylan’s growth.

[nicolodigenovas]

If Wylan was really the uwu soft boy the fandom paints him to be Kaz Brekker would have thrown him out of the tank with no hesitation the moment they exited the Ice Court. But no. So don’t make me throw you out of the tank as we exit the Ice Court, I will not hesitate

[losingmymuchness]

He is quite literally baby Kaz,

Out of everyone, Wylan was with KAZ when both antagonists were going on and on about legacies and babies.

He is kaz’s baby.

And the comparison to David in RoW confirms it too

[losingmymuchness]

How do readers not like Matthias’ chapters, they are literally all about Nina and inej ??????

[notsolonely1]

okay but what if Kaz was a tidemaker 🙂 just a thought

[losingmymuchness]

Okay but just the subplot of him never being able to find anything about them and his Van Eck overthrow just “coincidentally” being big and destructive enough they seek him out, finally satisfying his curiosity…also could you imagine just how intense that curiosity actually was, this is a man with an overwhelming desire to be in the know about anything that could be an advantage or weapon and the only thing that topples that is his trauma that was born and came to life in the harbor, the harbor which the tide makers also control.. imagine being a kid all of that happening in a city you know nothing about just to find out their are grisha that control the waters, even a normal drowning victim could become obsessed but thinking about what else happened to kaz in that water, there is no part of Kaz Brekker that would let the tide makers stay unknown to him.