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.
