I've been rereading GtN again and man...
What if I love Babs actually. I've said that before but like what if even more now. What if I think he's endearing and tragic and the way some of the fandom treats him is wildly unfair. Like...
What has he even done? Act full of himself? Try to be a know-it-all when he clearly didn't actually know a lot of stuff? That's mildly annoying at worst, and ego is hardly an indelible sin when he's sitting next to Ianthe and across the room from Harrow, etc.
Put too much effort into his appearance? Show off too much? Corona is right there and we love her. Also, it'd be blatantly misogynistic to criticize Corona for that, yet many don't question Gideon judging his pomade and lip balm, or the twins dismissing him with "go fix your hair" and "you're getting hangry" and generally treating him more like a slightly troublesome pet than a person.
Tbh I've seen exactly one post that brought up the specific language they use to dismiss him, but several that mention how necro/cav dynamics in many ways mimic traditional gender roles, so like... You know it's misogyny 2.0 even when directed at the annoying guy who flippantly says "doll" sometimes, right? Especially when they're unambiguously punching down by their own social standards? Adding weight to the idea of associating him with modern day femininity: Babs is stretch of a nickname to get from Naberius; irl it's typically standalone or short for Barbara. So there's that!
Or back on his faults... Being mean to Jeannemary isn't great! He's a grown ass man and she's 14, but at the same time... Honestly I'd judge more if it only happened once, or if she'd been really upset by it. Having mutual consistent beef with a teenager is just kinda pathetic and funny ajowjegoaweg. Like it's still not a non-issue ofc, it's just so petty and mundane, especially next to all the war criminals.
But also I've been picking up more fun things on this reread like...
He's SO eager to talk to Colum about Cav Stuff, not only talking his ear off at the dinner party but running to catch up with him after the incinerator findings. He found one (1) guy he has anything at all in common with and who begrudgingly puts up with him more than others here and shadows him about it.
He does his stupid stretch trying to show off his 57 abs after the pool, and it's silly and petulant when he stops upon realizing no one cares. But it's also like... If he was half the asshole some project onto him, you'd think he'd be at all pushy, but he's not. He wants attention, but when no one gives it, he just stops and sulks. It's not like, an achievement or anything to just respect when no one is interested, it's basic decency, but that's my point. The frat-boy-esque caricature doesn't have even that, but Babs does.
(The fact that he has like a million abs also has some implications about either working even to his detriment, because clearly defined abs typically require dehydration and this is the kind of series that would take that into account, or possibly letting Ianthe use flesh magic on him like she almost definitely has with Corona, but I digress.)
And I've already had feelings about how quietly and dutifully he submits to Ianthe biting and eating bits from him when she's trying to call the Fifth ghosts, but I don't think I'd caught before that Corona bites him too. When he catches her showing off her swords skills to Gideon and panics, I remembered him scolding her and getting her to stop, but I think I missed or forgot that he presses his arm against her and has/lets her just bite him really hard to let out her frustration. He makes himself a chew toy to be torn up and doesn't complain...
And of course there's all the "blood on his lips in the cradle" "promised to their family from birth and assigned to them at their birth" "he HAD to be the perfect cavalier, so he BECAME the perfect cavalier" stuff, and how that interacts with Ianthe's claim that he was very boring as a person (gee I wonder why, I'm sure he was given tons of room to have a life outside of training and being their guard dog), how he always trusted people wouldn't cheat on him this time but everyone he tried to date always did, how Ianthe would proceed to invite whoever he least wanted to see to the twins' birthday every year, presumably exes or rivals or otherwise.
And of course the question of "how much of the Ianthe we've come to adore is influenced by Babs, and to what extent?" But yeah.
As per usual I love every single character, acknowledging negative behaviors I often see other people overlook isn't deflecting blame or asking for more criticism, and defending characters I often see shat on isn't saying they're blameless or trying to exalt them above other characters. It's just trying to promote love and appreciation where I don't see very much.
But in this case in particular I just also think it's FASCINATING how much the framing affects the fandom's collective perception, you know? Like I HAVE seen a few people here and there talk about how in any other series Naberius would be a major character, could be a main love interest or at least an interesting rival, etc. And the more I think about it the more I'm like, man he could even be a moderately silly yet pretty damn tragic protagonist in the hands of a skilled writer, huh? But we see him mostly through the eyes of Gideon and occasional mentions by the Tridentarii, so so many people really do end up just going "lol who cares about Babs?" It's so interesting what a wild and powerful difference viewing things from different angles makes.
