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Alex Easton and Winter Ihernglass exsist on a competent butch soldier continuum and I suspect that if gideon had ever managed to get free of the 9th sans harrow she would also be on that continuum of tired martial butchs with complicated feeling as the first love.
Winter kinda looks different every time I draw her cause I still haven't made up my mind on her character design ☺️
Marcus D'Ivoire reflecting that he's only known Janus for little over a year in Guns of Empire was unexpectedly hilarious, because it means that Winter was basically speedrunning ALL the military promotions from Ranker to Division General in <2 years.
Hey I saw you read Wexler Shadow campaign so I actually got a Q for you. It has a like "actual" main character who spends most of the time as the POV right? I know there IS some gay shit in there but like, how much?? Is there a sapphic pov? I wanna read it bad but I'm too gay for the straight shit
the Sapphic POV is Winter Ihernglass tactician extraordinaire who is disguises herself as a man to get into the army and hide away from the abusive orphanage she grew up in. She does a great job of hiding her identity for the most part by virtue of being extremely introverted and butch. She's basically the main hero of the story though she is one of three POVs (another is a guy and the third is not introduced until the second book, and she is the man's love interest).
Winter has the most complex romantic relationships (yes) in the books I'd say. One thing that stuck out to me compared to other books is how very much gay she is. Not to an obnoxious or fetishistic degree but you can tell you are reading a lesbian's POV, something I think Wexler does a better job of here and maybe even better than some other authors. Which is fun contrast to the straight POVs.
Currently obsessed with The Shadow Campaigns and feel like the world is sleeping on it.
(Episode 1000 of me ending up in a super small or pretty much dead fandom)
Queer Book Character Tournament 2 Round 1
Benjamin “Ben” Evans- The Darkest Part of the Forest
Ari Helix- Once & Future
Winter Ihernglass- Shadow Campaigns
Lily Chen- The Shadowhunters Chronicles
Character, book, and author names under the cut
Winter Ihernglass, Janus and Jane.
Winter:
First impression: Loved her from the start on general principles (ESPECIALLY once I realised she’s queer) but her introduction is... not really great? It’s necessary, but it could probably have been a bit more grounded in her PoV. Compare Winter and Marcus’ intros in TTN to Raes’ in TST and there’s a marked improvement.
Impression now: Listen. You know this. My GIRL.
Favorite moment: Christ, so many. The Company Square. The upturned boats. Taking on Bloody Cecil. But in terms of character moments, I love the ones that show that she’s a really decent person, in a way a lot of protagonists aren’t. Accepting that Jane has a new relationship when she sees her and Abby; struggling with protecting her troops but acknowledging their choice to serve; helping Leti and her people as much as she can and the Murnskai in the base. She’s just... so good?
Idea for a story: I’ve already discussed this with some people, but a Winter/Cyte penpal au in a world where Vordan didn’t lose the Prince’s War, so Orlanko isn’t ascendant, Winter grows up as Ellie, and the political situation (and Ellie’s pre-Cyte relationships) is very different.
Unpopular opinion: None, because we all love Winter here.
Favorite relationship: Romantically, with Cyte. I love her friendship with Bobby as well.
Favorite headcanon: Listen you’ve all put up with a lot of me blasting my Winter Headcanons at you, so here’s one: she can’t whistle or sing to save her life.
Janus:
First impression: Kinda... okay, I guess? Janus never fascinated me as much as other characters, if only because he was so obviously set up as a mystery that there was no chance of his motives and intentions not being important, if you know what I mean.
Impression now: I like the idea of him just showing up occasionally in Vordan’s papers, with Marcus exasperatedly sighing and going “What NOW?”
Favorite moment: [On Orlanko] “On the other hand, he has quite a few cannon. That can make up for quite a few character flaws.”
Idea for a story: I don’t really have one, tbh.
Unpopular opinion: I suspect his chase for Mya would’ve ended badly, even if the Beast hadn’t ‘eaten’/banished the Demon he was looking for. He’s not the kind of person to simply stop once he’s got his hands on that kind of power, especially with the Elysian Church still extant.
Favorite relationship: I’d have liked to see more of him and Uhlan. More of Uhlan in general, actually.
Favorite headcanon: This is barely a headcanon imo because it’s more like logical subtext but the reason he’s so on-board with female soldiers and puts such faith in Winter specifically is because of Mya, and his estimation that she would’ve been a much better general than him.
Jane:
First impression: Loved her. Badass lesbian gang leader/revolutionary? Awesome. The volatile elements of her character are there in TST, and you can see her trajectory in them, but I thought her relationship with Winter would grow as both of them had changed.
Impression now: She’s a tragic figure; someone who was broken by horrible circumstances and latched on to something that seemed a solid lifeline from when her life was ‘better’ (Winter) without being able to accept that things were changing around her and Winter had changed.
Favorite moment: “Get the fucking ram!”
Idea for a story: I’m probably not gonna finish Aria, Scored for Gunfire and Steel but the idea was that it would involve Winter and Jane foiling a Hamveltai attack on the Deputies-General. There would be swordfights and sneaking and Jane rushing in without considering the consequences. Then we’d fade to black on Winter and Jane back at the barracks, Winter turning around after taking her jacket off to find Jane already naked and pushing her onto the bed.
Unpopular opinion: I think my ‘impresson now’ section counts for this?
Favorite relationship: I actually think her relationship with Abby is fascinating and could’ve been explored more - Jane acts pretty cruelly to Abby overall, and I find it weird there’s no exploration of that after everything falls apart.
Favorite headcanon: Actually considered joining the Concordat at one point in exchange for protection for her Girls. Meeting Abby convinced her not to.
I just finished The Infernal Battalion
(Yes, I know I’m late, it was a bit of a week...)
TSC people: come shriek, and discuss all the things with me, and send me fic requests, etc, etc...
