I was thinking about how I like characters like Jade, Kafka and Arlecchino and I'm like does that mean I like dommy mommies? And it's not really about whether they're dommy mommies, I like confident and assertive women, and East Asian moe style female characters tend to be depicted as childish and infantilized, and I don't always care for that, it's fine if some of them are like that but it's old when most of them are. So it's cool when a character like Jade can be confident, assertive, cool and dominant, running her business and leading people into ruin like a girlboss, and if she has to carry around a whip and step on people to do it, sure, same goes for Arlecchino I do want Childe to step on me though
It’s been a while since my last eels rant, but here I am again to rant about good ol’ Jade Leech and how the fandom seems to uhhh… gloss over the canon information we’re given and give him whatever personality they feel like. As always, if you don’t care about canon lore, or the blatant information we’ve been given and prefer house husband uwu soft Jade, carry on and do what you will. I’ll put the rest of this under a cut because it’s likely to get long because I am salty and so so so so so sick of takes that completely ignore his canon characteristics to replace it with uwu baby he’s so soooofft instead. At this point I am BEGGING the EN twst fandom to read more than bad youtube translations of the main story only, and read the card stories and events since the characters get their own spotlight and time to actually dig into their personalities because the uwuification of Jade is the *worst*
*ahem*
So, one of the VERY FIRST THINGS we learn about Jade, is that he enjoys playing with people, and using them to best suit whatever plans he’s aiming to achieve. For example, the conversation in Jade’s robes story spells out REALLY QUICKLY what kind of person he is
Jade: Frightening students so quickly after they entered school…..
Jade: Don’t you think there’ll be plenty of chances to do that later?
Floyd: Eeh~. If you want to tell people something, isn’t it best to say it straight away? That’s way faster!
Jade: Of course, that’s one way to do it….. But it’s not preferable.
Jade: The thing I desire the most is not fear, but chess pieces that can be moved for the sake of Octavinelle
Jade: And in order to get that, one of the most important things is “public confidence”. And to obtain that, first impressions are crucial
Jade: In addition to the country of origin, hobbies, preferences, the food they dislike and subjects they are bad at…
Jade: I also listed all their MagiCam accounts. I just happened to come to know about those too.
Azul: Oh….. And the ID’s listed under “private”?
Azul: Incredible, could it be that you managed to obtain everyone’s private accounts despite their attempts to hide them?
Jade: Ah, oopsie. It was so incredibly easy to find, I may have accidentally gone and written all of those down too.
Azul: Oh, how terrible. If this list were leaked, everybody would be oh so troubled.
Jade: In that case, you should make sure to properly manage the list so that it does not get leaked.
This isn’t some misunderstanding, or fear of Azul to act, or some other misplaced garbage softboy bullshit the fandom sometimes spouts, he knows exactly what he’s doing, and it’s something that he ENJOYS. It's why he and Floyd work so well together cause Jade will happily fuck with their head before Floyd breaks their bones (standby for the ‘stop uwufying Floyd’ rant cause you know I have one of those too). And Azul knows and takes advantage of that exact fact. None of them are soft uwu babies, they all know what they’re doing, and are exceptionally good at it.
I’m not sure if this is at large just a “we didn’t read that card or the translation was bad (like the Floyd fish nicknames for affection when it just says nicknames) or read at surface level or inability to understand what’s NOT being said” etc, but I see it a lot. A lot of things about Jade aren’t said outright, because that’s EXACTLY the game he plays to fly under the radar. He’s Monsieur Mastermind for a reason, Rook knows that every single one of his actions and mannerisms is thought out and pre-planned so I don’t understand why some folks out here are refusing to see it, especially when even in universe the characters regularly comment on this exact thing. There’s MULTIPLE instances of Jade using people and being facetious to keep up the facade of Azul’s lackey without much else going for him at all. His magic is understated, he fades into the background and lets Azul/Floyd be the standout Octa students, but he always seems to know *exactly* what is going on and where, and how to manipulate the situation to suit what it is he’s after.
In his own dorm card he pretends to leave Octavinelle in order to manipulate Vil into doing some free promo work for the lounge, and no one is sure of his intentions the entire time he’s there. Rook and Vil know that he’s using them but can’t quite put their finger on what he’s up to, BUT because he’s so good at his job they let their inhibitions go and let him get on with whatever he’s up to. Jade knows how to act and what to do to get people to trust him, and part of his charm is that he keeps to himself so that there isn’t any negative correlations with him like there are Floyd. It seems everyone is afraid of Floyd’s mood swings, but no one suspects Jade of having any ulterior motive because he’s always so well behaved and kind to people. Even when Kalim is making him tea and he’s thinking to himself that his teeth are going to rot out of his mouth, he keeps up the kind demeanor and drinks the tea, because Kalim could always be a powerful pawn (which he then becomes in ep 4). During beans day 2 Azul mentions that between the twins, Jade is the more dangerous of the two, and who better than the one that knows them best to make the observation. I think it’s pretty obvious that Jade’s favourite type of game is playing chess with those he’s around (he even mentions he likes terrariums because he controls everything inside of them), but I think the focus on mushrooms and mountains sometimes detracts from that. Even sociopaths have hobbies, friends!
And that I think is where it gets confusing for some people, there’s the sociopathic tendencies, but he has friends and likes mushrooms and mountain climbing and smiles genuinely sometimes, so he can’t be all that bad! Except, having things you enjoy isn’t reserved for good people. Plus, look at the people he’s closest to. Floyd is what I would personally call a psychopath (I know there’s a lot of takes on this, but that’s an essay for another day), and Azul is a few screws loose of being normal himself. They’re all brilliant, but that doesn’t mean they’re good people. Some of the examples I’ve seen for how Jade is ‘misunderstood’ as ‘evil’ are easily debunked by canon, because he almost always says something facetious and creepy afterwards to undermine the ‘sweetness’ of it. Not to mention that good and bad isn’t black and white. You can do good things while still being a bad person and vice versa, and doing good things while being a bad person is Jade’s bread and butter. Twisted wonderland in general is very much about morally grey characters where none are implicitly good or evil, and I think we’ve yet to see anyone *actually* evil, BUT the Octavinelle trio are the closest to classic disney villain bad guy we’ve gotten to see so far.
To go off topic here a bit, I do wonder if the uwu-fication of the Octavinelle trio as a whole is due to the whole weird purity push that makes it so you can’t enjoy morally grey characters unless you can find the redeeming and good qualities in them. Hmmm. I understand wanting to find the good in people and so on and so forth, but the whole redemption of the villain to be able to like them without getting cancelled or whatever it is is really stupid. Let the shitty characters be shitty, because that’s what makes them interesting. It’s like with Crowley, he’s not a good role model but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad character because he’s a teacher and should be a good role model (or whatever mental gymnastics are there). The point of having a colourful cast is that not everyone is static or good and the characters grow, though sometimes that growth isn’t in a positive way, and that’s okay because it’s fiction.
Okay back on topic, and back to Jade.
So if we’re operating on the assumption that not every character needs to be a good person to be a good character, Jade is an EXCELLENT example. He is very multifaceted and if you look at him just on the surface he seems like a really decent dude. He IS very helpful, and he CAN be very kind, and he DOES enjoy wholesome things wholeheartedly, BUT i think boiling it down to those points and ignoring the sea of red flags is the entire point of his character. He wants to fly under the radar and not stand out as a bad-guy. That’s how he gets things done. Even in canon it’s commented on by Trey and Riddle, with Trey being taken in by the good guy act and Riddle mentioning he needs to look beyond the surface because Jade never does anything without reason. I think one of the best examples of how Jade thinks is in Silvers FG card. He immediately changes his tactic when dealing with Silver when the latter balks at Jade mentioning “forcing” the fairies to do anything for them. He immediately sees the change in atmosphere and as such changes the way he interacts with him and takes control of the situation with the fairy to get the results he desires. Silver, being the goodest of boys, doesn’t seem to see the point of Jades plan and words to manipulate both of them into doing the work he needs done. Afterwards, Jade seems amused by Silver’s words that he ‘spoke from the heart’ as if it’s something he himself had never tried.
Jade: I didn't expect you to flatter them to receive it. You are quite the negotiator, aren't you?
Silver: Negotiator…? I only spoke from the heart.
Silver: If you speak with sincerity, it does not matter if they are human or fae, they will understand.
Jade: From the heart… I see. Well now, that is a wonderful vision.
“Sounds fake but okay” - Jade Leech, probably. This point in the story could be where we see more character development in that Jade learns that maybe shady and underhanded isn’t the best way to go about things, BUUUUUUUT, since the event is an “IF” version of a side event, I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon (if at all). Jade is definitely one of the most nuanced characters in TWST (imo) so I think it is easy to miss all of the hints and things that have been scattered between the main story, character stories, voice lines, and events, but once you put everything together I think it it paints a very clear picture what kind of person he is, and unfortunately it’s not the uwu soft boy house husband pushover that most of the EN fandom stuff I see seems to take him for. Again, if that’s your personal preference you do you, but I find it very hard to ignore the information that is SUCH a big part of his character. (Speaking of, I did see a complaint that most of the fandom is with me on the ‘Jade is a sociopath’ front, so like… can someone tell me where to find it cause I always find the opposite) To throw it all out the window to focus on the much smaller parts of his personality I think are doing him and his character a huge disservice by just … missing the point. Jade is a good character BECAUSE he’s a bad person, and because he doesn’t seem to want to be a good person at all. He (and Floyd) enjoy causing problems, and watching chaos unfold, and ignoring it for the less often seen softer points is lame.
Moving onto how he cares for people. Of course he’s able to genuinely interact and appreciate those that he cares about. His relationship with Floyd and Azul of course is different in nature than it is with anyone else at the school. He’s known Floyd since birth and been friends with Azul since middle school, that being said… that doesn’t mean that there’s no tension there at all. During beans day, Jade mentions he’s glad to be on the opposite side as Azul so that he can challenge him, and can’t wait to see the look on Azul’s face when he loses (rip tho lol). He does provoke Floyd occasionally as well when he’s in a shitty mood, so it’s not as if he’s all sunshine and rainbows with them either. He does after all, fully agree with Azul to wringing the eel slime out of Floyd despite knowing that it’ll be really painful for him, laugh at him when he gets blasted by Riddle at their entrance ceremony and tease Azul after his overblot. In regards to the overblot, of course he’s worried afterwards. Azul is his friend, whereas the same can’t be said for most other people in the cast. Azul is more than a pawn, and though he would likely not hesitate to use Azul if necessary, Azul knows him well enough to help with his schemes openly knowing about any shady reasoning behind it so there would be no reason to. I think as far as friendship goes for him, the only ones he truly opens up to are people like himself (like Azul and Floyd) not because he’s worried that he’d frighten them, but because he wants people that will help him and enjoy the same things as him. His hobbies are his own personal interests so Azul and Floyd not sharing them with him is fine, but when he has the more malicious intentions, as is shown SO many times, he wants to have friends that will increase the chaos rather than trying to diffuse it. Even in his official profile it says that he dislikes being bored.
One of the other arguments that I had seen about Jade was that he was “canonically shy” and doesn’t like showing his teeth because he’s embarrassed. I think it’s important in these situations to consider the context in which the information is presented. Jade has already said in several places that he doesn’t like when people watch him, and that he doesn’t like when people watch him eat (because he’s got such a big appetite) so taking a conversation such as this:
Ruggie: So in this school, doesn’t that mean Jade-kun and Floyd-kun would have a big advantage?
Ruggie: Cause they’ve got big bodies. And their teeth are sharp.
Jade: Fufufu, I wonder. I would be embarrassed to open my mouth so wide while everyone watches…
Jade: Contrary to everyone’s expectations, I may dawdle too long and be unable to grab an apple.
As facts he’s embarrassed needs to be looked into deeper. There absolutely could be a hint of embarrassment for someone that’s put on such a refined persona to open his mouth that widely since the row (or rows if you’re a pharyngeal jaw believer) of serrated teeth is a frightening view that could completely ruin the image he’s worked so hard to maintain. He does mention in his voice lines that he doesn’t like when people look at him too closely, and I think instead of that being shy/embarrassed or whatever else, it’s more that he prefers watching to being watched. This I think becomes especially clear in his PE story where he feels Rook watching him and seems to be uncomfortable about how much Rook may have learned from watching, though remarks that he probably had gotten nothing from it at all. He spends the rest of the card fufufu-ing with Rook because they’re the same sort of people. They both have their secrets, and they’re both hunters, though of a different type. (Also, Rook is great, Rook haters u suck). The idea that Jade is insecure etc about himself at this far in the game is absolutely absurd. He knows his strengths and weaknesses (are there really any?) and knows exactly how to progress and overcome any obstacle. In fact, when he confronts the Heartslabuyl team/yuu/grim in episode 2 with Floyd, he demands to know why they were spying and challenges them to a fight (then of course proceeds to chase them down with Floyd afterwards) These aren’t the movements of someone that isn’t sure of themselves, and is quite the opposite.
I think I’ve rambled enough here at this point (we’re at over 2500 words weeeew), but I do think a lot of people overlook the shady and instead focus on the very clear parts of Jade that are present but DON’T make up the core of his character, because again, when characters are nuanced they’re not just one trait. Jade isn’t just a mushroom lover. Not just a mountains lover. Not just a poisoning his classmates for fun enjoyer. Not just a blackmailing his fellow students just because kinda guy. Not the knocking his classmate off his feet with a pie throw guy. Not just a making his close friends dance for his amusement while under his control guy. Not just a shady mf that has LITERALLY SAID he would tie someone up and drag them to the bottom of the ocean never to be found again if they double crossed him. He’s all of those, and I think putting more weight on the “positive” and “good” traits is doing him a great disservice since those are just the cherries on top of his entire fucked up personality, because lets be real, the shady GREATLY outweighs the cute or soft things he does. And if anyone has read this far and for some reason still thinks he’s soft uwu boy (unironically), I’ll leave you with one of my favourite Jade quotes proving that he’s much shittier than he is soft, which is exactly what makes him such a good character. I could probably talk more about this, but this I guess covers the majority of what I’m salty about.
Indeed. If I were ever to be betrayed like that…I would drive them into a corner, destroy them emotionally, and then tie them up and drown them deep into the sea…Seeing you blame yourself and acting like such a martyr is, pardon my words, truly disgusting- main story ep 4
But no, tell me more about how he’s soft and sweet and misunderstood.
(Translations taken from a combo of the inactive @/twstarchives @/mysteryshoptls and kanadesmusingsblog)
