the ice doesn't forgive

Certified Six of Crows maniac

[readingrambles]

Kaz and Inej are so funny. She wants so little, and instead of giving it to her, Kaz does the most outrageous shit. It's like:

Inej: It would be nice if he stopped saying I was just an investment and apologised for calling me replaceable

Kaz: What could she want an apology for? I've done so much heinous shit it's impossible to narrow it down. I'll just brutally murder the people who hurt her and then avoid her for a few days. That'll do it

Inej: Literally one single word of affection is all I need

Kaz: *Silence*

Inej: Ok I'm gonna leave Ketterdam

Kaz: : (

Inej: Will you be vulnerable with me?

Kaz: Absolutely not. But I will sell everything I own to my greatest enemy to buy your freedom and go to war with one of the richest assholes in Ketterdam for you

Inej: Thanks.. you didn't need to buy my contract though I could leave anytime I wanted. Can you tell me why you're so traumatised?

Kaz: It's none of your business. There's no time anyway, I have to go and maybe sacrifice myself with this mildly suicidal mission. But just in case I die there's something really important I need to tell you.

Inej: ????

Kaz: I've hidden a pile of cash for you

Inej: : (

Kaz: *doesn't die*

Kaz: *keeps scheming*

Inej: Please don't tell me you buried a child alive

Kaz: I didn't bury a child alive. And I blew up the menagerie

Inej: .. that's actually that's pretty cool of you : )

Kaz: *leaves without saying goodbye*

Inej: : (

Kaz: Hello I'm back and I bought you a boat

Inej: : )

Kaz: I also got you a berth so you can come back any time you like and a right hand man

Inej: so you'll help me fight slavers?

Kaz: urgh... I don't know... I'm really committed to this whole bad guy image I've got going on...

Inej: : (

Kaz: btw I called in a favour with the King of Ravka and found your estranged parents

[ellyinnit]

"Romance is only good if it has smut"

You OBVIOUSLY have not read Crooked Kingdom, where Kaz's lips brush Inej's neck, he has a panic attack, leaves, starts a fight with his ENTIRE GANG and WINS

[thefishiswriting]

wylan at 23 learning how after 7 years all your cells are officially regenerated. him realizing he now lives with a body his father never touched. him telling inej about it. inej quitely weeping that night because even if the memories are still there this body is entirely hers. idk if it makes sense and it is very badly worded but i'm at work and it's driving me insane.

[casual-media-consumer]

Just a friendly reminder that the only bet Kaz Brekker ever lost was based on his unshakable belief that a father had to love his son

[polartss]

wild geraniums🌸 the last one of the pieces I made for Illumicrate’s special edition of the Six of Crows duology!!

[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.

[queerbookbitch]

"I asked chat gpt" yeah well I asked Kaz Brekker and he just glared at me, so I asked wylan but he was looking at Jespers lips and didn't hear me, so I asked Jesper but he was staring Wylan's eyes, so I asked Matthias, and he started talking about djel so I walked away, so then I asked Nina and she said to get waffles, which I did, but then I asked inej, and she gave me an actual answer

[whimzzzyarts]

I think it is really, really important for this fandom to remember that Inej canonically blushes when her crush compliments her and constantly misses her parents and longs to be with them. With the recent burst of romantasy fiction, I have been seeing the same "strong" female character who is badass, cool, unbeatable and stoic to the point where she might not have any personality outside of a scowly face. And especially as a person of color, it could have been so easy to reduce Inej to the same stereotype, but she wasn't. She is badass, cool, unwavering, resilient and vengeful, but she's also just a girl who went through so many horrific things and is doing her best to survive within her awful environment. She still falls in love and is hopeless about it, she still longs for family and feels lost when they are not with her, supporting her. She also makes jokes, is pretty rude at times and sings sea shanties with her friends.

[rosiethorns88]

"You're Better Than Waffles"

Living vicariously through Wylan, who I imagined cuts up his waffles into individual squares like I used to do as a child.

Officially licensed prints available in bio link!

[insignificant457]

thinking about this moment again:

particularly in regards to this conversation:

thinking about inej, who is actively dying, asking kaz for an apology. inej, whose native tongue leaves no room for triviality here. this isn’t “you were mean to me and you need to make nice,” it’s so much deeper.

this is “promise me you won’t treat me like a piece in your chess game again. promise me you won’t keep acting like i’m replaceable. promise me i’m not just another one of your investments.”

this is the first time we see inej holding kaz accountable, the first time we see her ask him to be more, to do better. this is the precursor to the “without armor” conversation. and i think it’s fitting that we never hear whether or not kaz did apologize. because at this point, i don’t think he’s ready to give inej what she’s really asking for here, and in a way, it’s best that she doesn’t hear him say the words. he’s not ready to mean them yet.

[fluffonthefloor]

trust he worked for that spot on the merchant council

[nevergraciee]

kaz being unable to fathom fathers disliking their children is so funny to me. this man has literally ended people’s lives, but his father was good, jesper’s father is good, inej’s father is good, and even pekka rollins is a good father, so surely wylan was being dramatic? kaz was so sure fathers had to love their kids that he bet on it (and lost! because jan van eck truly did despise wylan, and kaz was blown away)

[snoocupz]

Crooked Smiles & Gentle Talks. 🪶

[rosiethorns88]

Remastered version of an old artwork, featuring Kaz and Inej playing the most intense game of OPERATION ever.

[doodlesnoff]

book!crows for the 10 year anniversary. ive done 1 6 panel and it's gone to my head, so naturally next thing you know bardugo will hire me for the graphic novel

[sol-niczka]

Happy 10 years to Six of Crows!! Here's a redraw of a piece from around a year ago 🐦‍⬛❤️

[lilxmoo]

Kaz loving magic tricks as a boy and falling in love with a girl who can dissapear. Inej being told to find a boy who remembers her favorite flower, and falling in love with a boy who remembers her most important dreams. Jesper losing the one person who saw him as blessed and falling in love with a boy who sees him as even more than that. Wylan seeing magic in every mundane thing, and falling in love with a boy with magic in his veins. Nina growing up knowing she would always be targeted and falling in love with a boy who vows to protect her. Matthias losing his love for the world as a child and falling in love with a girl who loves even the simplest of pleasures.

No one writes romance like Leigh Bardugo