A mini-essay on author intent in heated rivalry and how it pertains to specifically Shane Hollander
Disclaimer: I’m a huge fucking fan of this show! I love Shane and Ilya so much! I can’t wait for the next season! However, I think that just because I’m a big fan of a piece of media doesn’t mean I can’t have critical thought about it. Nor does it mean that I can’t criticize certain aspects of it either. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. This is not an anti or hate post against RR, JT, or anyone else involved in the production of the show.
But, I want to talk about the way that Rachel Reid (RR) writes about Shane Hollander and his race. And how her writing impacts the way fandom spaces interact with his race.
A few months ago, RR made this post that gave us insight to how she interprets and understands Shane and Ilya. One of the key points I’d like to focus on is the sentiment that “Ilya has grief + trauma” and “Shane does not”. This distinction gives us some insight of how RR sees Shane.
In RR’s interpretation - Shane is not cool, particular about his privacy, obsessed with hockey, not intelligent, emotionally unaware, and does not have trauma.
However, many fans interpret Shane's identity of being asian biracial in a majority white city and playing and excelling in a predominantly white-dominated sport was at least a little traumatic.
And this is the crux of the issue and my hypothesis is that RR did not consider how Shane Hollander being Japanese-Canadian would influence his life. I would go as far as to say she wrote this character, created his background, personality, and then just so happened to make him half-asian.
Let’s look into those books, specifically Heated Rivalry. Now I’m going to do some second-hand citations here, a youtuber named WenWen did a really cool video about how RR uses a lot of stereotypes to describe book!Shane. She points out that Shane’s asian identity is only brought up into association with his looks. He is constantly called short compared to other hockey players, unable to grow facial hair, light-weight. She also does me the very great favor of counting how many times certain words were used in the book.
For instance the word “asian” was used 0 times in the Heated Rivalry book.
The word “Japan” or “Japanese” was used 3 times in the Heated Rivalry book. And each time it was used to describe Yuna’s identity. Not Shane’s.
The word “Russia” in comparison was used 98 times in the Heated Rivalry book.
The word “Canada” is mentioned 14 times in the Heated Rivalry book.
The word “Asian-Canadian” was used 0 times in the Heated Rivalry book.
I think when we just look at these decisions made in the book, we can conclude that RR did not think about how Shane’s race would intersect with his hockey career or his sexuality aside from his aesthetics.
The reason I make this point is because we as a fan and audience need to be mindful of the intent that the author is putting in her work. And how that impacts fan-works such as fanfiction, fanart, and fandom discourse.
Let’s take a trip to the past - when we go on ao3 and search for Shane/Ilya fics before the show was released (October 2025) there are 558 fics posted. Now we’re going to use the tag filters with the understanding that while no one tags their work perfectly it’s the best tool we have for navigating what types of fics the fandom is writing.
When we filter the tag “asian shane hollander” we get 0 works.
When we filter the tag “Wasian shane hollander” we get 0 works.
When we filter the tag “asian characters” we get 0 works.
When we filter the tag “racism” we get 1 work.
Of the 411 works with Shane only .2% seem to talk about his race.
I interpret this as a very clear demonstration of how RR’s portrayal of Shane has impacted the way that her audience interprets his race. Including, Jacob Tierney (JT) and how he writes Shane’s race in the show.
I believe that we can all agree that show!Shane is much better written as an Asian character then book!Shane. But just because it’s done with better intention, doesn’t mean it is infallible from RR’s influence.
Let’s consider again the points made in WenWen’s youtube video. Shane’s identity as being Asian is mentioned a handful of times while Ilya’s identity as being Russian is mentioned significantly more. This is reflected in the show. While the show acknowledges that Shane is Asian, it does not get nearly as much focus as Ilya’s identity as an Russian immigrant.
I’m not trying to take away the improvement to Shane’s character that JT has made. Nor am I trying to minimize Ilya’s hardship at being a first generation immigrant who didn’t grow up speaking English. This also isn’t meant to diminish Ilya’s grief and his trauma at his mother commiting suicide by the way.
What I do want to do is point out how RR’s characterization and refusal to explore Shane’s racial identity has impacted how JT has written Shane and how this fandom has explored these aspects of Shane’s characters as well.
As of June 2026, there are roughly 38k works about Shane/Ilya on ao3.
When we filter the tag “Asian Shane Hollander” we get 8 works (.002%).
When we filter the tag “Wasian Shane Hollander” we get 5 works (.001%).
When we filter the tag “Asian character(s)” we get 34 works (.08%).
When we filter the tag “racism” we get 285 (.7%) works.
There’s something to be said about how Shane’s racial identity is mostly explored when it comes at a negative experience to him.
I don’t know if JT ever plans to meaningfully explore how Shane’s experience as a biracial Asian man would influence how he feels about coming out as gay in season 2. I don’t hold my breath for that and it's not the purpose of this.
The point is to bring more attention to the impact of RR’s writing and how it influences the way that we interact with Shane. I’ve seen too many fics where people are afraid to explore Shane’s race or they make it an afterthought. This is my sort of call to action that we as a fandom, and specifically to my fellow fic writers, explore how Shane’s racial identity and his ethnicity for that matter influence how he walks the world.
This means more fics with really thoughtful racial analysis. It also means more fics of just letting Shane be Asian. For me, one of the most impactful moments of the show that showed Shane’s asian identity, was in episode 4, when Shane enters Ilya’s house and asks if he should take his shoes off. It was such a nuanced way to show that yes, Shane is Japanese-Canadian. He might have different norms, perspectives, and world-views than a white-Canadian.
Because, really what RR is doing with her portrayal of Shane, is pushing this idea that Western-White culture is the default. She isn’t confronting her own implicit and internal bias. And anything and anyone who is non-white is “other” or is “too much” to write and think about.
