#faranak

[lvnesart]

Casts Kaveh's parents upon yee

[kaveh-a-day]

Day 184

[portalmonsterrr]

testing out Faranak's design for something I'm working on

the second doodle is based on this:

"As a child, he would observe her working on blueprints and try to imitate her, resulting in his first sloppy blueprint that he slipped into her work. After inadvertently giving the blueprint that the young Kaveh drew to her client, causing a misunderstanding for everyone involved, she taught Kaveh the basics of creating a blueprint and was patient with him rather than being angry at him for causing the misunderstanding in the first place."

[dontkillnpc]

[19silvermirrors]

#citrustober's daily theme today is vinyl record🎶 So Kaveh and Faranak are dancing to one (which I believe to be Marie Laforêt's "La Tendresse"). Yay family angst and reconciliation💛

[reason-with-the-underdog]

kaveh & parentification

its pretty easy to read parentification (children feeling responsible for supporting their parents’ wellbeing)

into kaveh's backstory

the “eldest daughter” allegations don’t come from nowhere!

:\ seems familiar, doesn't it?

[angie-massei]

Faranak

[xarciel]

okay, I've been putting this off for far too long. every time I see someone speculating I start to type and then decide it's too much and back out. but let's do it. let's talk about kaveh and faranak

so, here's the thing right

kaveh was a compelling character from the get go. as soon as we met him in the library in Sumeru, I was down. I was keen. I was ready to know more about this dude

and then we got to know him - we got his backstory! and I went - hmm. and oof. because kid with dead dad raised by a grieving mother is certainly something more down to earth than a lot of the other fantastical backgrounds in genshin

and then we got his character story. and we got that one fucking line.

"She sacrificed a lot raising me as a single mother"

and I had to put the controller down and go for a walk

because here's the thing about characters with a dead parent and especially dead dad backstories. a dead parent is a plot device. it's a reason for adventure, or mystery, or intrigue. or being ridiculously unsupervised. it's 'you've inherited your father's birthright' grandiose moments. it's not REAL

and the more we've gotten to know about kaveh, the more I've become convinced that someone in the writing team lost a parent young - probably a father. because kaveh and his relationship with faranak seem too real to be a fluke

I've seen kaveh and faranak's relationship described in a number of ways - abandonment, estrangement, guilt-filled avoidance - but imo none of those really match what we are seeing. because here are the facts: - faranak lost her husband young, in a tragic accident - faranak still had a young child to take care of, who needed her - faranak never had time to process the grief of her husband's passing (we know this from kaveh's backstory where he describes the way that she changed after his father's death. the way that she would cry for years after when reminded of him) - faranak never abandoned her self-imposed duties as a mother ("No matter what happens, I'll do my best to raise my son on my own.")

faranak, despite facing an overwhelming emotional situation found herself thrust in single motherhood, and she committed to it. she gave kaveh the best parts of herself that she could. she was burnt out and emotionally fraught, but it was everything she had, and she brought that dedication to kaveh every day. the best mother that she could be

and kaveh grew up with that love. with faranak's steady, dedicated presence. a good mother. but what else did he pick up inadvertently? - if you care about something, you dedicate yourself to it. you keep pushing, no matter how much it costs you - there's no such thing as quitting - emotions are something that you can squash down, something you can put them to the side and maybe dedicate some small time to feel when everything else in the world is done - caring is something you do for others, it's not something other people do for you

and then young kaveh meets young al haitham and they start their doomed thesis, and we know how that story ends

but before that, we know that faranak moved to fontaine. and we know that she did this with kaveh's blessing.

faranak, dedicated emotionally burnt out mother with no chance to recover, finally had a chance to go somewhere new, do something different; finally see something for herself outside of the duties she'd carried all of these years. and she brought that joy back to kaveh. to her son, who could see the change in her after all this time.

and faranak said - I enjoyed fontaine - I was even offered a job while I was there - maybe I'll go one day - when you're all grown up, and you don't need me any more

and kaveh felt - guilt, at his father's death, all those years ago, like maybe this was all his fault really anyway - self-loathing, at having held his mother back, every year since, that she dedicated to raising him, at the expense of her own life -determination, to be the best son he could be, by giving faranak whatever she needed from him, regardless of how it impacted him - love, for his mother

and kaveh said - I'm old enough already mother, you should go now

and so faranak went to fontaine, and finally had a chance to process what had happened to her. she finally allowed herself to pursue her own happiness, to move on and continue living her life. after years of putting kaveh first, she no longer needed to carry the weight of their relationship. as an adult, kaveh can tell her what support he needs from her now - her tired heart can rest, knowing that her son knows she loves him, and that if he needs her he only needs to write

and kaveh has continued to love his mother in the best way he knows how. by not needing her. by letting her go, and letting her live her own life. by showing her whenever they meet, whenever they write, that he's doing fine - better than fine even, great! he's a successful architect with everything he needs in life.

he was worth her sacrifice, for all those years, and now she doesn't need to worry about him any more.

so kaveh and faranak - don't talk often - barely see each other - and when they do communicate the focus is squarely on positive topics, about how their lives are now

and could kaveh ask her about his father? about her work? about her journal? theoretically, yes. realistically - with the amount of grief that blanketed their home while he was growing up, to the point that he knows more of his parents' lives through external sources - no. there is simply too much. to try and open that pandora's box is too much to bear.

so kaveh and faranak don't talk about it. they don't talk much at all, really, but that doesn't mean that she's abandoned him, or that she doesn't love him

imperfect love is love all the same