What are your opinions of a possible twst version of Iago/Jafar's parrot? In some of Jamil's voice lines he talks about his childhood friends, and mentions he got into a fight with one of them specifically. IIRC even Najma said something about that one friend in the Silk City event?? Seems like Jamil's friend is possibly based off the relationship of Jafar and Iago.
With the new characters that are possible RSA students, to me, it would be interesting to have a dorm based off Aladdin or Jasmine, and maybe Jamil's friend is a vice housewarden to that dorm like Jamil is to Scarabia. I think it would be neat when that spelldrive competition actually happens, or maybe the characters are revealed sooner, we finally get to see Kalim's character being fleshed out with the guilt he carries over Jamil, not the same song and dance of Jamil resenting his job as a servant, we get that part. Idk. Nobody in the western fandom seems to talk about Jamil or Kalim outside of being used as shipping fodder, or they rehash the same points of "Jamil doesn't actually hate Kalim" no shit!!
The again I don't expect good writing from twst anymore. Actually there sort of never was, I don't know why I'm expecting book8 to be a holy scripture 🤣
This also makes me ask, do you think at some point Kalim would want to free or pardon the Viper family from servitude? I don't know if Kalim is capable of that now, but maybe when he inherits the head position of the Asim family. If these questions have already been asked please redirect me!
I talked about what we know about Jamil’s friend(s) from middle school here and here. There's been some new information revealed since then (like I'm sure Jamil mentioned hanging out with a friend in Foothill Town, but we don't know if that friend is also an NRC student or even an RSA student.) I’ve always assumed that friend was twisted!Iago, given that Jafar’s closest companion in the original film was Iago. However, I’ve also seen some suggest his friend is twisted!Aladdin, twisted!Abu, or twisted!Abis Mal (from the second film, Return of Jafar). We don’t have formal confirmation of their identity yet.
Personally, I'd be really excited to see a twisted!Iago because 1) I love birds, 2) I have my own Iago OC, but I want to see how Twst would do if "officially", and 3) I'd love to see a loud, bratty new kid annoying Jamil :)) One of my favorite aspects of the movie was Jafar and Iago's dynamic, so I want to see that translated into the world of Twisted Wonderland. I envision Iago as a newgen NRC student rather than RSA student though... He does reform and become a good guy in the second film and the animated series, but he's still got villainous traits like being self-absorbed and greedy.
A twisted!Jasmine or Aladdin as RSA's Scarabia-equivalent dorm leader is a popular theory. (I translated one of those theories here!) It would certainly be interesting if someone Jamil knows personally or is friends with is also involved in dorm leadership in some capacity.
I do think that a lot of the Scarabia development we’ve seen so far centers on Jamil, the OB boy, and not Kalim. We did get to see a little of Kalim’s perspective in book 5 and his dream, but it’s comparatively so little compared to all our moments with Jamil. It’s unfortunately a con that comes with not being an OB boy.
As for Jamil, while I do think it’s repetitive to have him keep harping on how much he loathes his position in life, I think that’s intentional. Jamil has become bitter and hateful because that’s the only way he that is acceptable for him to cope. It’s a large part of why he distrusts Leona in book 6 and feels as though he can only trust himself to make up for rich, pompous brats’ deficiencies. Jamil knows there isn’t an easy way out of his circumstances, so he tries to “deal” with it by venting his nastiest thoughts (albeit often not directly at Kalim).
I understand if you’re frustrated with the limited topics of discussion on Kalim, but I don’t think getting upset about it helps push the discussion forward. There isn’t anything wrong with rehashing old topics because it could be considered “new” to some. Granted, some perspectives (like shipping) might blind us to points, but may also open our eyes to things we never previously considered. That’s why I find it important to keep all avenues open, even if they seem limited or redundant. I would encourage you to do the same.
I agree that Twst’s writing quality fluctuates a lot, especially in the main story. (The quality is honestly at its best for character interactions.) Twst has a lot of grand ideas and potential, but imperfect execution. However, I think it’s important to seek out and acknowledge the good rather than mark it all as bad.
I think Kalim would want to free Jamil and the Vipers. As attached as he currently is to Jamil, part of Kalim growing up would be realizing the relationship is toxic and that Jamil’s wish supersedes his want. It’s that whole “if you love them then you’ll learn to let them go” thing. I’d imagine Kalim also has to develop the skills, grace, and understanding to navigate the social systems which govern generations of this practice and how to dismantle them. It also means learning to listen to what Jamil wants and to not smother him or lend a hand if Jamil doesn’t want it. With how complicated this all is 💦 I really doubt that we’d see this happening on-screen… It sounds like it would take a while for Kalim to reach that point of maturity and wisdom.
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janainaart
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
