I just realized this and my mind is blown. Ven and Grackle’s relationship is reminiscent of mine and my own grandpa’s when I was little. It’s not only that it’s cute and loving and caring, but it’s in their characters.
Grackle was objectively a bad person in the past. He’s killed, hurt, and abused many people. Ven is an innocent little girl. Opposites. Now, I’m not saying that my grandpa is a killer. He hasn’t killed anyone and wasn’t some ruthless underlord by any means, but he was also a bad person, especially to his family. But to little me, he was just my doting grandpa. But as I grew older, I started to learn what he did, and eventually, I stopped talking to him as often, similar to Maggie and Crowe who did it on a larger scale by cutting contact completely and overthrowing him as underlord (which is also similar to my aunts’, my mom’s, and uncle’s experience with their father). Plus, everyone in my family knows my grandpas bad past, similar to how Conn, Nevery, Sparks, Ced, and the magisters all know Grackle was a bad person. Some are scared of him, others are just angry. AND Grackle killed his wife, which is probably a metaphor for how my grandpa treated my grandma when she was alive eventually metaphorically killing her. Grackle’s wife, Fleur, is probably also an interpretation of my grandma (rip I love you). Wasn’t a saint in her past, but a much, much better person that her husband in terms of well, everything. However, Ven and Grackle aren’t direct interpretations of what me and my grandpa have. My grandpa didnt change and probably never will. Grackle on the other hand has and is trying to change for the sake of his family. Because my grandpa hasn’t changed, I don’t really see him as what I used to in the past. But Ven still sees Grackle as just that, her caring grandfather who is helping her through hard times. And I think the reason I made them like that is because subconsciously, that’s what I wanted for my grandpa and me. I wanted him to change and go back to being my grandpa again. But it never happened. He just got worse. Ven and Grackle are my own fantasy of us, and I intend to keep it that way.