#pizzleyanking

[turbotrout]

he is a menace

[turbotrout]

unfortunately i think he is the funniest man in the world

[turbotrout]

i present to you my scrungliest henry

[turbotrout]

kind of tickled that the unconventional nature of their relationship is only remarked on by hans at the end of kcd1, reflectively, well after they’ve sunken their teeth into each other

[turbotrout]

love hans cussing out his captors in the prey quest. maybe that could be when hans won henry over for real. the heart to heart on the way there and conversations at the camp could have left henry thinking “i guess he's not that bad." but hearing hans, tied to a tree, spewing absolute filth at the cumans in lieu of pleading or negotiating would make henry go “oh this guy rules actually”

[turbotrout]

greatly enjoy that hanush is jovial and brash and restless much like hans. imo if you're writing a strained relationship between a character and their parent/guardian one of the best things you can do is give them lots of similarities 👍 it is juicier that way

[turbotrout]

[turbotrout]

i enjoy and think it’s interesting how the narrative impact of class on hansry (as individuals and as a pair) changes from map to map, despite the social institutions remaining the same. each map/act having a distinct class-derived conflict for them to inter-personally overcome results in some nice 3d relationship development (+ it is why their relationship is inextricable from the game’s exploration of the topic)

but the way it’s done is also just, like, very emotionally satisfying. it’s more compelling and painful that class as an /external/ force that tries to pull them apart is latent until the third act (and i mean literally pull apart, in the spatial sense); it feels jarring and unfair after watching them resolve earlier conflicts and repeatedly come together as equals. (i especially like that it follows their self-imposed separation in trosky)

i basically made my point above but it’s fun to think about so i can’t help going over each map (i’ll be using rattay/trosky/kuttenberg to refer to their respective maps/acts, not the towns).

while it is a very good and interesting topic i avoided talking about how their personal understanding of class changes because we’d be here all day 😵‍💫 also things mentioned in one section doesn't mean they're not present in others (it is just where it stands out the most to me)

rattay circumstances weirdly bring them together; they’re paired off in the first place as punishment to them both for failing to to behave in line with their station (a lot has already been said about how meaningful that tavern fistfight was — and hopefully everyone knows that you get rep boost with hans when you DON’T appease him in kcd1). there’s some boundary pushing between them but they talk about it like a joke. it never occurs to them to remark on this supposedly improper relationship except in retrospect, off-handedly, after they learn henry’s parentage.

rattay is also funny because familiarity makes some of the lines fuzzy: henry’s class status is maybe the most ambiguous in rattay. he’s officially a nobody but benefits from nepotism because the local lords care about radzig (his relation to radzig serves him less once we leave rattay — istvan at least entertains the possibility of ransom for henry, the same can’t be said in kuttenberg). henry’s class ambiguity is exploited pretty thoroughly. meanwhile hans is powerful but irrelevant, not taken seriously because of his reputation.

trosky stripped of noble furnishings the world suddenly treats them as equals yet they end up spending most of their time apart of their own volition; despite their resonance they still have a fight that’s partially flamed by how their respective upbringings shaped their anxieties and perception of their circumstances, what happened and how to proceed (to say nothing of how difficult it is to talk maturely in the traumatic aftermath of an ambush they barely survived, hans in particular is compromised by humiliation and panic).

class has an influence in why, with the exception of one quest, they aren’t crossing paths before the wedding. hans poaches in isolation not just because he can’t conceptualize the risk but because he has his upbringing to thank for his excellent marksmanship . his isolation is interesting because hans talks as if he believes in an inherent ‘nobleness’ that people would recognize were he to defend his poaching, or it’s something people would notice and remember if they saw him carrying sacks (he is unaware that people don’t watch peasants that closely as mercurial lords) — but if that was the case, why not take advantage of it in town? him isolating himself is a sort of an unconscious admission that the distinction is arbitrary, enforced by perception (and violence). some of his manners could not be tolerated because people will think he’s a commoner. nobility as something both real (upbringing obviously shaped him) and fake (literally no such thing as blue blood, you're no different than anyone else). (but also: hans isolating because of shame of fucking up his ONE official task so supremely) (but i’ve talked enough about trosky!)

kuttenberg now that they’re the closest and least formal they’ve ever been the class distinction suddenly becomes tragically relevant. henry’s relation to radzig matters little and hans’s own well-developed martial skills weigh less than his ransom. they almost seem surprised, offended by this external force, which is strong enough for henry to admit he’s upset that they haven’t spent enough time together (to which hans blames the circumstances). henry’s fluctuating job titles are frequently and awkwardly invoked to describe, justify his closeness to hans and wanting to rescue him.

but any bodyguard/escort would agree to keep hans safe in maleshov as a political prisoner; whatever separation is enforced on them is repeatedly breached by their affection for the other. hans escapes from maleshov because of henry’s personal (NOT professional) devotion. this isn’t about duty i care about you you know maybe more than you know. hans, whose utility as a (more important, heir) noble prevents him from joining henry on a suicide mission and the emotional strain of that being so great it cumulates to a love confession. obviously kissing by the fireplace with their swords crossed didn’t tear down the system but you gotta give them kudos for getting closer every time they’re presented with systemic obstacles 😌