(Before reading, note that this is my interpretation and I could be stupid. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)
I've seen one too many Kalim fics (or Kalim present in other fics) where he uses his unique magic like only three times or something and is like, "Oh no!! I've used too much magic!! If I use any more, i'm gonna start getting bLotTy." Like...the entire point of his unique magic is that he can make a FULL OASIS SIZED SOURCE OF WATER with just a LITTLE BIT of magic, or at the very least, less magic than a normal water spell would take. Kalim was able to make a water stream from the literal farthest point in Scarabia back to the dorm and STILL FIGHT JAMIL AFTERWORDS WITH MORE MAGIC.
He's not gonna get tired out after making a light rainfall ToT He's especially not going to overblot from filling a room up with water.
In part, I blame twst for this because they never fully explain the specifics of Kalim's unique magic and how much magic it takes, but I'd at least think everyone would be on the same page that he can at least use his magic more than a few times :(
Also!! He isn't just able to make lots of rain with little magic, it's implied that to some extent he can control the output of water (I forgot where, but he states he can produce just enough to fill a glass of water if he concentrates). Idk if that means he uses even less magic to make a small amount of water, pretty much allowing him to make small water sources with practically no magic, or if his unique magic has a set amount of magic it uses regardless of size. (I'd like to think it scales tho cus that's cooler.)
Kalim might be able to manipulate it/change the source of it as well. Here's some lines from his vignette that explain what I mean by this:
Crowley states that Kalim is NOT just pouring down and manipulating his own rain, but is able to manipulate the fountain water within it as well to refract the light and make a rainbow. I'm assuming this all happens solely under Kalim's unique magic and not by him using multiple spells to do this, so I could be wrong here. But, basically, if my interpretation of everything is correct, Kalim could technically manipulate his own water and the water around him to make it refract light, change shape, etc, if he wanted.
So, it wouldn't be impossible to assume that Kalim could use his spell to create minor illusions, make his spell come out in forms other than simple rain from above, and move the mass amounts of water around him like a water bender from ATLA.
I also wish to ever so briefly mention that we don't know if Kalim can manipulate the properties of his water too. I think it'd be so cool if he could change the temperature and possibly the acidity of the water if he practiced more with his magic. But, so far, there's no evidence (I think) to imply that he can.
Anyways, long rant over. Kalim can do more with his magic than people (and probably himself) give him credit for. Let my guy make an exorbant amount of water with little consequence. Let him drown all of NRC. Kalim could be so cool if he was a single ounce more willing to be a little strategic and evil.
Anywho, if there was another “Wish Upon A Star” event you get to pick 4 characters to be the Stargazers, who would they be?
For me, I think each Stargazer should an element, since the zodiac signs have the 4 elements and I think this team should need each 4 elements.
Fire: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius
Flora: Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn
Wind: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius
Water: Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
I don’t know anything about astrology, star signs, or elemental affiliations 😅 I don’t think the original Wish Squad fits the element thing anyway…? From what I understand, Deuce -> Gemini (Wind), Idia -> Sagittarius and Ortho -> Leo (Fire), and Trey -> Scorpion(Water). They’re missing an Earth/Flora (Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn).
But hey, don’t let that stop ya if that’s how you want to want to conceptualize a secondary Wish Upon a Star! Go crazy and have fun with it!!
That being said, these are my four picks as Stargazers (no particular rarities assigned):
Leona - Bro does NOT entertain the idea that the great kings of the past look down on them from the sky. This would be an excellent opportunity to explore that cynicism and his rejection of those spiritual aspects of his culture. It would also be a good chance for Leona, someone who treats people like pawns and disregards their opinions and feelings (deeming them stupid or ineffective for progress) to learn some empathy. See what his peers wish for, think about how those could be made real.
Jamil - There’s kind of a star connection here too. Aladdin and Jasmine stargaze on the magic carpet, Scarabia students excel at Astrology, making wishes to genies and on stars, etc. Jamil would come in with the unique perspective of a servant. He wouldn’t think much of the event other than it’s another duty he has to fulfill—he’s essentially playing the role of the Genie. Could easily have an arc about how he’s frustrated he has to keep putting others’ wants above his own, thus expanding on his feelings post book 4. Good straight man in a comedy group too, especially considering the other explosive personalities he’s with.
Malleus - This one might be a shock since I haven’t made it a secret that I dislike him, but that’s exactly why I want him in an event: because he desperately NEEDS this opportunity to grow and change. Malleus is still having major problems with really understanding his peers and hasn’t done much to show me he can be a leader. So why not give him an event where he goes around listening to the common man’s desires? Maybe it can get him to think about how fae and man are different, or think about what he as an individual can do, without magic, to make his classmates happy. And maybe at the end of it all he finds satisfaction in the effort he made to earn those smiles and their acceptance. Actually EARN it instead of being handed it by default.
Sebek - He has a lot of room to grow, and I think this could be done effectively by exposing him to the wishes of his peers. Yeah, Sebek would initially be judgy, yelling a lot and comparing the wishers to Malleus—but this intentionally forces Sebek to contend with a variety of people rather than allow him to opt out or flat-out refuse to. There could be times when he finds common ground or interests with classmates. He could connect with them through those, find humans he can form friendships with!! (This would be similar to how he and Deuce bonded over books and reading in Deuce’s dream.)
Characters I specifically wouldn’t want as Stargazers:
Azul - He would abuse the knowledge he gains.
Kalim - Just… too privileged; feels like a lot of the jokes we’d get from him is just Kalim being out of touch with the things people wish for. “Huh? Why don’t you just buy it?” types of comments.
Lilia - He’s already wise; I don’t think he would gain anything from collecting others’ wishes.
Ruggie and Jack - I feel like they fulfilled a similar enough role in The First Christmas. I don’t need to see them reenact those roles.
i feel like you could have the same argument for kalim as stargazer where stars in general have many Scarabia allusions. kalim was the one who took us out in book 4 to see the stars while talking to us about his concerns for jamil. in addition, he would excel at the dancing portion. one of the manga scenes is him and jamil going through different dances with deuce & trey.
his perspective related to the event would be less of "he's too privileged" and more "he's using the event as another avenue to help people fulfill their wishes", especially if it's an event that happens post-book 7. specifically his perspective, him in other people’s perspectives (especially if he’s put with people who don’t really have a high perspective of him in the first place) would be similar to what you’re saying! with one or two unsavory comments. i have a lot of thoughts about kalim in the “wish upon a star” event. i think it would be useful to have after book 7 too for him !
Realized I hadn’t followed u back but I hope u know whenever I was first getting back into twst ur character analyses were so fascinating and I felt like you helped explain a lot of interesting concepts alluded to in subtext. The translations, way they speak, and what they do or do not say. Your posts I feel bring up depth in the characters I think a lot of people miss. Really made me enjoy the characters more and makes me feel less crazy for uh… treating them not like children (Esp Kalim good lord) anyways just wanted to pop in and tell u I like ur stuff 👍👍
omg hi I love all of your stuff what the heck this was such a treat 😭💞
warning for word wall below lol…
I’m so happy that my analyses piqued your interests … spreading the kalim agenda (and infecting everyone with the kalim agenda to slowly indoctrinate people into the crazier ideas I post on Twitter) is half the reason why i do them in the first place. he is genuinely such an interesting character that im not even sure you can properly explain everything about him in one post without missing a few other details that add to his nuance (even my 10K+ word analyses - the point is to drive a point with those, but it isn’t the end-all be-all of his character)
I especially hope that it touches more people’s hearts after Book 7 and Book 7.5, and that I can generally help to explain a little of how his logic works (and doesn’t immediately get dismissed as “he’s being stupid/incompetent”). With the way he’s written, it’s even harder to say that what he’s thinking (and most of the cast just understands that he’s unpredictable. I think I can count on one hand the amount of people in the cast who genuinely try to piece him together, and it shows in Kalim’s interactions with those people as well). Like… right after Book 7 Chapter 9 came out, I made that analysis … and although Book 7.5 did vindicate me in some areas (keeping his true feelings close), it outright showed us his thoughts (first time we ever get to see them properly) and how he’s not exactly focusing on wanting to get along with Jamil for the sake of altruism (recognizing that Jamil may try to take over the Asim family, and making the resolve that he won’t allow that - although he was smiling during the conversation with Jamil) (this is contrasting the idea that maybe he might be balancing his position as heir with helping out Jamil in any way he can. he basically tells us that he’s not going to do that straightforward and has his interests ie keeping his family safe and keeping his position as heir), and emphasizing that “cold indifference” that we see in the story a few times but never in the main story (I think back to Kalim’s moment with Riddle in his school uniform story, or Kalim’s reaction to some fighters in the tamashina mina ring insulting him outright and his reaction to it).
It gives me the vibes of what’s described in his newly released parfum (setting sun, hiding a gentle serenity, etc). It’s just another nuance to him, but even with me saying this, it’s definitely not all there is to his character. he’s an empathetic guy who wants people to be happy bcuz that makes him happy! but he’s slowly enforcing boundaries and it’ll look off and offensive because he’s so used to giving to others; that’s what most people are used to. but he still wants to get along with people. but he can’t ignore his own feelings anymore! he also interacts differently with different people, and as he learns about the world he was isolated from, his learning curves will also look off and unfocused because he’s actively looking for direction as well; there’s a reason he tells us he got tired of distrusting people as he grew up. but like any other teenage boy, he still wants to cement an ego, so even if his ideas sound weird or off and he’s stubborn over it, it doesn’t hurt to listen to them, especially because that is most of the cast anyway lol.
his max level voice line is about how he wants to understand us more, and wants us to learn more about him, too. his max friendship lvl voice line is about him wanting to give us clothes or jewels as a thanks and him then trying to figure out what it is we really want if not materialistic gifts from him. in both cases, after getting to understand him more, you realize the way he interacts with the world is through trying to understand it too. (or at least, that’s what’s emphasized in a reciprocative way after trying to understand him first.) that quiet serenity … it’s not really delusional. it’s just that some people might be more touched over it than others, but it’s these little things that make him feel so real to me…
Someone made a callout post about u liek today I think. It’s in the Kalim al Asim tag btw. Just saying in case if you weren’t aware
I know it is, I don’t mind it 😂 im not listening to someone who used to have their twitter name as “Property of Jamil” until they saw my Twitter post about people being weird with Jamil’s situation (and labelling it “slavery” to be weird). I wish people can look at the POC of the cast, or any POC, without using stereotypes to sexualize us, but it’s never going to happen when people refuse to listen to us.
They also decided to put brown and black experiences together and clump us up in one umbrella term, because yes, that’s how the POC of the fandom are treated. It happens in real life too, so I’m not as bothered by it as people think I am. 🤷♀️ It’s just a regular occurrence for brown people.
Okay, genuine question that comes from a place of curiosity because I think the answer can also explain why people react to Kalim & Jamil in a certain way-
Why do people take what Jamil said in Book 4 about the Asim family throwing out his family if he were to duel Kalim to be true/that he’s fearful of that consequence, when Jamil said that while he was lying to the dorm students about other information, Kalim was raised to accept his fate of the Asim heir as getting poisoned/betrayed (worse than Jamil dueling him) so it’s implied there’s no consequences from the Asim family even if Jamil were to try to kill him, and Jamil actively mocks Kalim in Book 6 to Leona that Kalim is too forgiving so he’d get taken advantage of? I’m not sure if it sounds like there is a consequence on the Asim family’s part if Jamil were to do anything to Kalim…
Kalim has trouble expressing his negative emotions to the point where he sounds like a child in Book 7.5 when he tries… he might not have been encouraged to express his negative emotions on things that happen to him. Jamil in Book 5 didn’t even believe Kalim took his poison attempts too seriously… I did used to think Jamil thought the Asim family would throw him out even if it wasn’t reality, until I remembered that Jamil didn’t believe Kalim took the poison attempts seriously enough in Book 5, and also that Jamil also told Kalim to accept his fate as Asim heir and not just his dad, so he was at least acutely aware of the consequences that would happen to other people if they tried to hurt him…
Do people believe what Jamil said because they don’t think anything else that actually happened to Jamil warrants sympathy for him? His monochrome backstory tells us what he’s always hated, which is the idea of the Asim family as people to worship/follow and his parents who would give him consequences for not conforming to that… his mixed feelings on Kalim and his small hope that he would understand Jamil, but Jamil never saw Kalim’s attempts pre Book 4 as Kalim trying to understand him, and just Kalim being annoying and always cheerful… There’s more to it than this but why don’t people use the facts/context canon gives us? You can’t analyze Jamil without looking at Kalim and vice versa. If you’re going to say the suffering of one character is on part of another, you’re going to need to back it up with both characters and how they interact within the context of their lives, not just one sentence from one character…
I think the worst thing to come out of that discourse is that “okay so the Asim family might be lenient but-“ no they aren’t! They let their eldest son deal with the bs of others all the time growing up! They told him to suck it up because that was his fate! He was still poisoned and kidnapped, and the poison attempts didn’t stop until he was 13 years old/decided to learn how to detect poisons at first bite/sense himself. His interactions with his parents can be summed up in “too busy to emotionally bond, but have all the money to throw and fulfill my idea of your wishes with”. Emphasis on “my ideas”.
Or, my favourite thought to come out of this: Kalim has all the power in the world until he’s in a position where he exercises it to do good, right? The people I’ve seen complain about how he didn’t know anything/didn’t do anything to help before Book 4 is insane… :,) How do you even blatantly ignore him and his character that he has to outright tell the audience “I’m not actually a prince”, “I wish Jamil can live more freely”, “I never went through my life believing I was the obvious choice for anything”, etc and yet people still ignore this for an image in their head that gives Kalim all responsibility for their relationship and doesn’t think he does anything with that responsibility to try to improve it before Book 4? Either they want to really hate him, or they don’t think anything Kalim does will be enough until Jamil is freed (which Book 7.5 makes it very clear Jamil doesn’t want that because he wants to use his position to gain control over the Asim family’s power in his own way…).
Rant over, I’m mostly just weirded out. The people who say Kalim in Book 7.5 had his first thought ever piss me off. <- the pissed off person is a person who really really wants to talk about Kalim’s idea and interests in individuality of others but can’t because everyone thinks he’s too stupid to even think of it when he’s dropped a ton of his musings on ideas of “uniqueness” of others already.
This is just me talking off the cuff, so don't expect comparison screenshots or extensive analysis. I'd just like to make note of something I noticed while reading Wish Lantern/A Radiant Reenactment.
Now, I read the event when it first came out on the JP server. I typically read the events a second time when they come out on the EN server to see what the localization has changed and to see how the characters' "voices" have been translated (to compare to my own dialogue). Something felt very "off" to me as I was reading this event in English, and for the longest time I could not figure out what it was... so I pulled up the event in JP to compare.
You know what I realized??? There's actually notable differences in how Deuce, Jack, and especially Kalim have been characterized. I just didn't think too hard or notice it right away because these three characters don't usually spend a ton of time together + I don't check English homescreen voice lines for these boys that often. Because Wish Lantern stuffed them all into the same room and they interacted with each other, things started to fall into place.
This gets long, so it’s all under the cut if you’d like to see my comparisons!
Of those three, Deuce is probably the least notable change (though I would argue it's still pretty big). A huge aspect of his character is adherence to hierarchy (something which is very important in Japanese society, even in criminal or delinquent activity). It doesn't feel EN fullt localized this, as Deuce calls all upperclassmen by their first name in the localization when, in JP, Deuce refers to them as [surname]-senpai out of politeness (albeit this is more a case of 1:1 direct translation, not localization). In this event, they have Deuce preparing tea and in Japanese he specifies to the UPPERCLASSMEN (Riddle and Kalim) that the drinks are prepared. In EN, they changed it to Deuce telling everyone that tea is ready. I mean... nice of them to include Jack, but it detracts from Deuce wanting to show respect to his elders. This isn't important just for his desire to be a studious and proper honors student, but is also supposed to invoke holdover behaviors from his delinquent days--because yes, even Japanese delinquents pay attention to the hierarchy of power and avoid stepping on people's toes. I did notice that the event + content beyond it did try to maintain some respect, as Deuce consistently calls Riddle “housewarden”, “sir”, etc. It’s just an inconsistent aspect of Deuce in the localization; it’s more consistent in JP.
In JP, Jack is gruffer and ruder than how he presents in EN. In JP, Jack complains that no one being at the counter to assist him with checking out books is a "waste of [his] time", whereas in EN he just notes that the counter is still not staffed. As another example, Jack outright calls Deuce dumb for not doing his homework until the last minute. In EN, Jack simply asks why didn't Deuce get started sooner? This takes some of Jack's (metaphorical) bite away from him. Outside of the event (I checked some of his voice lines to see if it was only this event where this change occurs), I noted that Jack seems??? Oddly less tsundere??? Like he doesn't deny being Yuu's friend in his P.E. Uniform (which he does in JP); Jack just says to not touch him in EN. He also seems to be more willing to listen instead of shutting Yuu down on the spot.
I saved the worst best for last: Kalim. KALIM, KALIM, KALIM. My boy... what did they do to you... 😭
This one's actually sort of hard to explain without screenshots but 💦 I'll try my best!! So essentially, Kalim has a very particular way of speaking and a tone that can be difficult to translate from Japanese. It’s not necessarily rude in the sense of being full of slang and cursing, but it’s rude in that Kalim has a very “direct way” of communicating. He says what he wants and is firm about it. (He also tends to speak in a “familiar” way, as he doesn’t use honorifics at all, but this part isn’t as relevant here.)
This is all most likely the result of Kalim being the heir to a mega wealthy family. He’s never been told no, he is used to saying what he wants and then automatically getting it. Let’s also remember that Kalim has been homeschooled for most of his life, so most of the people he has spent his time around are his own family and servants. He is therefore used to dishing out commands and speaking without honorifics. This is considered rude because the Japanese language places a TON of importance on observing seniority, social roles, etc. We see Kalim completely disregard these conventions in instances outside this event. He accidentally insults a peer’s stamina by commenting that not even a seemingly perfect person like Riddle can be perfect at running (in Riddle’s P.E. Uniform vignette). Kalim also accidentally insults his teammates’ dancing and singing abilities in book 5. This is meant to be a repeated issue for Kalim. In other words, the idea is that he is supposed to be unintentionally callous when he communicates. It is a FLAW of his.
Kalim’s particular manner of speaking transfers over to how he engages with his peers at NRC. When Jamil finds them locked in the library, Kalim isn’t kindly asking him to “please” get them out. The JP text never uses the equivalent of “please” (お願いします). It simply does not exist. Kalim is NOT requesting Jamil, a servant, to do this. No, Kalim is COMMANDING Jamil. And this attitude carries over to how Kalim addresses even figures of authority like Crowley. Kalim is also essentially giving Crowley orders to hand him things he wants. Again, this manner of speech is an intentional reflection of Kalim’s privileged upbringing and indicates his lack of formality and understanding of social grace.
… But EN does not do that. Instead, EN has Kalim frequently using the word “please” and polite phrasing when speaking to everyone. It makes him come off as much less abrasive than he actually is when he interacts with others. We’re missing a lot of his quiet characterization because of that.
I find it really interesting how small dialogue changes like this can completely change the perception of a character!! It can lead to the EN and JP servers to have subtly or hugely different versions of the same characters.
I was debating on whether I’d write up a think post for Kalim… but what the heck! Let’s do it, this is really interesting.
Re: his speech patterns, I’d like to eventually revisit this in a separate analysis because there are so many layers to his speech! But I’d like to use this to point out that the situation about Kalim commanding Jamil in the original Japanese version is supposed to be exclusive to life or death situations, and isn’t what he usually does to try to get Jamil to do smth (directly). i can pull out the lab coat card for reference; Kalim mentions that ___ should prioritize fixing the kitchen over kalim’s homework. (nothing is address specifically to anyone, no pronouns are used). Jamil asks why, Kalim says that they’re having another banquet. Jamil asks who is going to make all of the food and;
kalim doesn’t actually command Jamil here. what is happening is Kalim’s speech going to the most informal use (だろ, even more informal than just だろう) because of that upbringing mentioned and the arrogance that naturally seeps into his speech. but it’s disingenuous to explain that he is commanding jamil here to do something , or put any more effort into it for Kalim’s sake than he usually does (which is why Kalim also follows it up with “just make the food while you’re making mine”). he’s not just saying jamil’s name and ending it off there, like the answer to Jamil’s question is Jamil, and that’s that. he’s saying it like a question (although informally); “Jamil, right?” (he’s still making an assumption/asking Jamil to confirm). that nuance is important 😭 it’s part of the flip flopping that Kalim does to try to figure out what Jamil wants to do. (leave it to Kalim to help out a little or does Jamil want to do it all himself? does Jamil want to do it and thinks Kalim needs it to be perfect or does Jamil want it to be perfect? etc.) (he has other examples of this where he tries multiple things before book 4 to figure out what Jamil wanted.)
it’s also just a natural part of Kalim’s vocab. in book 5-30, even communicating with a little bit of hesitance and insecurity to yuu & grim, he still uses speech patterns (assertive & informal) that befits his upbringing, not his present feelings or situational context on the matter. (だよ) (using さ at the end of the sentence). it’s another layer as to why grim says (and the narrative uses to help gloss over) that Kalim hadn’t seemed like he was upset about the vocal positions at all. he still uses his regular speech pattern throughout the talk.
(it’s a bit of a theme with the three light characters in nrc ? silver looks like he doesn’t actually feel anything at all and the other students complain about it. rook is seen as weird to people and he has more love to give than he receives, so no one really bothers to look deeper or care. he has metaphors to being a “mirror” for vil - reflecting what’s on the surface. kalim’s issue is his arrogant words covering up how he actually feels about things, intentional or not, leading other to misunderstand him like this.)
(it’s also helped to create a bit of an “otherworldly” feeling where Kalim’s actual feelings on the matter are separated from how he talks about it or how he presents. this is major beyond book 4 going into book 7 when it comes to his thoughts on Jamil, but it also pops up sometimes like in tamashina mina where kalim was just getting insulted on the ring but he doesn’t even acknowledge how he’d feel about what others would say, just tries to take constructive criticism out of it… which results in him following someone else’s idea for how he fights rather than Leona’s strategies.)
there’s a lot more to his informal speech (ending sentences in ぜ for example, placing the last image as context below here), and there is nuance behind his speech as well. i don’t think it’s fair to use it to make it sound like that’s his intention (to command people always with his always direct speech) when we’ve seen it used in situational context where it wouldn’t make sense to if it’s just Kalim having grandeur. (in that conversation with grim, he also has to clarify that he hasn’t gone through life believing that he himself was the obvious choice) (context for why in Kalim’s ceremony robes, to him, the obvious choice was Jamil for housewarden. yes, kalim wasn’t lying when he told grim that there was never a point in kalim’s life where he believed he was the obvious choice. he knew his strengths and definitely knew he flaws. now he has a little more context as to why jamil rejected Kalim’s observation/proposal , depending on how you want to interpret that direct speech) (but you know… if everything he says is a command… that should have been a command to Jamil to take the position too, right ?) (it wasnt . but i hope that puts it into context what kalim’s direct speech specifically means in these scenarios and why misunderstandings happened in the first place. assuming you can glean his intention from sentence structure isn’t how kalim is meant to be interpreted - you’re supposed to look past it, especially considering his informal/arrogant speech is still used in conversations where, contextually, it makes no sense that he’s using it to seem superior.)
I’ve realized this is also why some people say he doesn’t have insecurities. He does, but… gestures to everything else. The localization is a bit difficult to accomplish, but I think they did the best they could considering how the misunderstanding for that specific scene in Book 5 can still be read as valid in the EN localization. I think it’s just the differences between how situational context affects the way he phrases things. Yes, he clearly still has the capacity to word his sentences and choose how to divulge information differently depending on context. it’s part of why a lot of people didn’t actually believe kalim knew he was getting poisoned, or how he chooses to only say his first name to the bus driver but say his full name to cheka in tamashina mina. He doesn’t think about the details in sentence structure, but that’s not easy to translate when his character doesn’t just not think about the way he interacts with people at all (re: the examples here). Because of that nuance, we have changes like this. I think it’s the best they could do without completely simplifying his character to one trope (the idiot), which is probably the problem they wanted to prioritize because he is also not meant to be read as a single trope in the JPN version as well .
(for additional context his speech pattern is also why some people treat him as a child! yes not everything is jamil’s fault lmao. depending on situational context, his use of informal/assertive speech can make him come off as a child who never learnt how to use situational context to influence sentence structure - think of the little kids who learn off cartoons but didn’t learn respect lmao - or someone of high status with actual rich vocab + tatemae, which is the art of hiding your true feelings and doing/saying socially correct things instead lmao) (which makes sense as to why people like leona and idia seem to have this understanding of kalim over the latter? idia knows and accepts that kalim has good intentions vs the conversation leona has with jamil about kalim’s “charisma”.)
it’s open… ehehehe. stock is a little limited esp for haikyuu, jojo’s, and dragon prince items so be warned! i also have more items on my shop !! tags are all the characters i have so you’ll end up seeing them somewhere lmao
hello my favourite scarabia analyst!!!! jamil solo analysis WHEN? <3
im excited to hear your thoughts! poetry/songs are always harder to pull apart and study imo
hello hello!! im so flattered thank you 😭 i promise im not ignoring my asks i just like to sit on things for a while and i wanted to answer this rn bcuz ik it’ll take longer sobs
there’s smth abt jamil’s character song that intrigued me so before i do any analysis on it , i wanted to wait for 7.5 bcuz i feel like it’ll be relevant by then. in the meantime i do have a document of the analysis of far out that ive compiled with a bunch of other people + users, so please check that out in the meantime if you have a chance to!!
i promise i will get on with this dndjdnsnd i do like to make sure i have enough info tho so im gonna wait…
link to far-out analysis: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14HNnet10USJDFPuISOwKtGZbmHH0yXbcil8NcTDwzzk/edit?usp=drivesdk
disclaimer: this document may not mention everything there is to mention about Far-Out (yet). it’s always being updated as the creator of th
hi!!! i loved reading your post analysing scarabia and their dynamic!! they're very detailed and thought-through, top-notch all and all!
i was wondering if you could clear something up? you say kalim and jamil are codependent (and i agree ofc), but in what way is jamil dependent on kalim? what needs does kalim help him meet? is it just financial dependence, or is there something like emotional dependence too? i cant quite put my finger on it!
thank u in advance! <3 never stop posting lol
thank you for reading! im sorry this took a while, i had this written out a while ago and i just forgot to post sobs. this a lot + book 7 spoilers so warning in advance
so besides the obvious answer of “kalim is the obstacle between jamil and his parents for jamil to not get beat by them over book 4”, or purely financial dependence, i think we can do a little better than that, but we’ll need to go over some things first lmao
first off, i would like to clear up what codependency means. codependency is an imbalanced relationship between two people where one is considered as the “giver” and one is considered as the “taker”. a lot of people assume that they only strictly follow one role in a codependent relationship, and while this may be true in some especially abusive relationships, the relationship between Jamil and Kalim has either of them prioritizing the others’ wants and needs over their own in different ways or different situations (both assume the roles of givers and takers at different times, even without duress). I won’t include book 4 moments bcuz this was especially a time where both of them were under duress for different reasons (and behaviour in relationships change depending on how much stress you apply, so it’s not a good control for finding symptoms).
not to say they’re not under constant stress all the time, but particularly when it comes to each other - jamil with balancing his mixed feelings about Kalim even more with him insulting him to dorm students while keeping amicable facades, and kalim with his concern over Jamil that he made clear to yuu and spent his non-hypnotized time trying to make things easier on jamil + help his dorm students at the same time - it ends up heightening even more.
another thing before I can start talking bcuz context is important; people assume kalim has more power than he actually has (if the Asim family were punitive, why do people constantly attempt to kill him/why hasn’t some family members been prosecuted? the public is mainly unaware of what goes on). and assume that jamil has less power than he actually has (confirmed by jamil’s initial attempts at cooking in Jade’s Halloween story - this wasn’t a job, the adults in the estate were telling Jamil that children shouldn’t use utensils or fire/they didn’t want them doing dangerous work) (it’s why I stress that Jamil’s parents wanted him to make good to kalim all the time rather than it be an expectation of a formal contract). this is important to the context of kalim and jamil’s actions and what they generally could and couldn’t do in relation to each other, as well as explaining what specifically stops them from being able to do certain things.
okie last thing; people assume the point of keeping them together is to work towards a healthy relationship but I think canon accepts the two of them together with or without the healthy part. part of scarabia students value is to go through the hard route to get to the end goal, if the reward is that valuable. (the latter is something Jamil has to realize).
anyway with those few things out of the way, not even considering book 4 and how kalim would send himself back to his estate (where they try to kill him + he has a lack of freedom) just to help jamil, or lie to jade while hypnotized even though he knew it was bad for him just to help Jamil, a lot of kalim’s attempts at being the “giver” in the relationship is greatly tied to the idea of self-worth. specifically, how he affirms Jamil’s ego - and to do this, either conceals himself in the process (to the point where even jamil doesn’t realize it/the narrative doesn’t emphasize it) (and esp when kalim, who says he himself has a problem with not able to voice all of his thoughts out into the open, and also does not trip up easily when things don’t go according to plan except in a few cases, doesn’t make room for the narrative to emphasize this either), or affirms Jamil skills to the point of extremity (where in jamil’s cooking card, jamil’s cooking in general looks really plain - he didn’t listen to when najma said it, but his clubmates confirmed it. it’s half implied part of the reason for this is bcuz kalim compliments jamil and his cooking in general way too much, and doesn’t point out the small details unless asked, so a “truth” was created in jamil’s mind about this).
anyway, back to the first point there; I think the most interesting example of “kalim concealing himself” (that comes to mind) is in kalim’s lab coat card, where he was using the kitchen for his homework, it blows up, and then he tells Jamil that they need to get it fixed so Jamil can cook food for their party. the entire party wasn’t actually for kalim’s enjoyment or just a whim, it was originally to allow jamil to make friends with other people through acts of service, as well as a way for jamil to show off his skills the first is something kalim himself is concerned over when it comes to jamil, but never mentions the point of the party to Jamil until the end of the story where it didn’t matter bcuz that party wasn’t happening anymore. kalim wanted to explain himself to Jamil to explain his actions. Jamil stopped it from happening so it didn’t matter at that point anymore whether Kalim said it or not, and I don’t think he initially mentioned it bcuz who would like to hear that he was concerned over your ability to make friends... the second is something jamil is actively concerned about.
back to the story; jamil gets mad at him over the last minute party - and then kalim cancels the party (but starts another one for ruggie instead). however, he’s still carrying out acts with jamil’s wishes in mind. it’s why kalim tells ruggie he needs to take responsibility for getting jamil upset, decides to cook as well, but also says he can’t cook with utensils bcuz jamil told him not to. in general, this is him attempting to do things the way jamil would want from him, but things like restrictions on cooking (that are actually a callback to the adults of the asim estate telling jamil as a child that children shouldn’t be using utensils or fire to cook) (and then jamil applying that to kalim, as if he were a child…) but also that Kalim not cooking meaning he isn’t taking responsibility for the party himself… means there were a lot of crazy loopholes kalim had to find to figure out how to best help jamil. and at the end, he still uses the whole “i got to cook myself!” to uplift Jamil and emphasize his skills. the whole line of thinking is “so if jamil doesn’t want to show his cooking skills to others, does he just not want the party? okay, someone else wants the party, but last time i tried to hold a party, jamil got mad over it, so i need to take responsibility for the party myself by cooking this time! i still have a small habit of relying on Jamil, but i won’t! …but im not allowed to cook conventionally, so what if i just use magic to cook? oh! jamil showed up at the party! jamil, i did cook this all with help from ruggie with magic, but it just shows how amazing you are! to show how important your words are to me, like i promised, even though i made all this food you can cook a meal for me, jamil!”. the idea is that kalim is able to learn to cook, and outright asks ruggie to teach him, but juggling what jamil wanted in general means that he doesn’t go for obvious options that should have been available to him. even kalim taking the perspective of “cooking” was him doing it with Jamil in mind, beginning and end, and not solely his own desire.
(outside of his relationship with Jamil, this is something that is pretty consistent throughout Kalim’s development; for example, playfulland where Floyd and Jade tell him not to let other people bud him in line bcuz it holds it up for everyone else, then the tweels attempting to bud other people by scaring the ever-loving shit out of them, and then kalim realizes the point isn’t the position in line or how it would make other people feel, but everyone’s boredom of waiting, so he tries to put on a performance to keep everyone entertained. and then a staff comes in with another “restriction” and it’s that no unauthorized street performances are allowed period.)
but it’s a little more complex than “Kalim listens to everything Jamil tells him”. he still does things in his attempts to help Jamil (or help others in general, but we’re specifically talking abt Jamil lmao) that may go against what Jamil wants/is done generally behind his back. the overarching example of this is when it comes to poison. kalim and jamil don’t do things in a vacuum, some of what they do is directly in response to another’s - and that initial reaction could have been a response to something else. it’s the same here - Jamil feels obligated to taste test for poison for Kalim, and this ended up with him going into a coma (im going to emphasize that jamil is not the only one who went comatose from poison). to prevent kalim from getting poisoned, Jamil also decided to cook all of kalim’s meals himself. he wasn’t the only one trying to find solutions to this; kalim decides to learn to detect poisons himself and thus was not poisoned since he was 14 years old. this means that Jamil no longer needed to taste test food bcuz it’s redundant - kalim can eat by detecting poison at the first bite and spit it out before anything happens. it’s implied (at least through the manga) that this was thorough education on his part and may or may not have involved getting physically familiar with the poisons (like the poison vault kalim decides as a first solution to the first years not being able to remember poisonous plants) (but the poison vault didn’t just include poisonous plants, but every poison under the sun…).
anyway, back to the “haven’t been poisoned since I was 14” thing. what’s interesting is that Jamil chalks this up only to Jamil taste testing his food for him. and… Kalim doesn’t say anything else about what he himself has done to help. the time when Kalim mentions being able to detect poison in the main story is in book 5. it generally painted jamil with an all-competent narrative in book 4, and is part of the reason why people didn’t understand that kalim knows how to detect poison himself (even though it says so in his profile…). “if Jamil was doing all this, why would Kalim need to? isn’t that just another thing jamil convinced Kalim he knew how to do it even if Jamil did it better?” - except we get explicit confirmation from the main story that, like how jamil’s skills weren’t getting properly recognized, kalim’s weren’t either. he didn’t want Jamil to suffer. even worse, bcuz he not only didn’t want Jamil to suffer from being physically hurt, but also wanted to listen to jamil’s desires to show his skills and emphasize them to everyone else, it meant kalim didn’t try to get jamil to stop even though he knew what to do about the poison himself. it’s why kalim settles on the solution to only eat things jamil makes him - or if he or Jamil watches the person making his meals. this solution allows for jamil to be safe and for Jamil to show his skills, but in case anything happens, Kalim can detect the poison (implied to be everything except with curries, which makes sense bcuz that’s a blend of spices that may be too much to pick out the poison from). “if kalim knew that Jamil has troubles in book 4 why didn’t he-“ this is mainly your answer. he’s practically explored all avenues, even when it comes to the extremes like life and death, to balance the things Jamil wanted.
beyond that, the point is that Kalim is a character with his own stakes as well. him doing or not doing things is tied with jamil’s desires and wants. he didn’t care for most of it, including the ones that restricted him and what kalim could learn to do himself (where Kalim can say he was helping as an equal, because he was helping Jamil to show his skills when comparing him to Kalim bcuz Jamil wouldn’t do it otherwise bcuz of the Viper parents - and this actually worked to earn the respect of the Scarabia dorm students when they say a Viper child would be more fitting as a dorm leader), until he realized in book 4 and says in book 5 that this not only extended to these things but things like competitions or ranking systems where Kalim genuinely thought his skills were better until he realizes Jamil was letting him win most of the time (when he’s normally good at being self aware of what his strengths and weaknesses are). unlike the aforementioned times, there was nothing Kalim was doing in those situations to help; it’s the same problem Jamil has with other people where they assume a level of pride over skills that they have over other people that may or may not be true, as stated in book 6. we as the audience didn’t initially see it like that from Kalim’s end bcuz Kalim is rly good at supporting Jamil and his narrative, and most people don’t have the opinion that Kalim is good at some things. thankfully this is realized and kalim starts to work on his independence.
why is jamil dependant on this? it’s an avenue of jamil to show his competence, and most likely how he didn’t go completely insane, stir-crazy, or end up in a depressive funk over his situation. but more likely evidence of this is jamil’s reactions (before book 7, at least) when Kalim breaks his expectations/other people break Jamil’s expectations of his own skills. the most tame examples of this is jamil getting a little bit sentimental (or a lot) if Kalim breaks expectations and not rly knowing how to conduct himself/getting uncomfortable. the most extreme example is in jamil’s cooking card, where he sees it as an insult to his pride over his skills so he tries to rectify it.
to sum it up; kalim, much like jamil with kalim in said aforementioned situation, was giving jamil a similar truth in his mind. he normally prioritizes this; he only does things behind jamil’s back that jamil won’t like when he has concerns over safety, and will also try to hide this generally from others if it can also help to emphasize jamil’s “truth” in his (and others’) mind. jamil was reliant enough on this truth to 1. continue doing things the way he always has been even if kalim was expanding his skills, and 2. develop an image of jamil’s own skills in his mind that may or may not have aligned with reality.
there’s a few other things I could mention, like how Jamil says that Kalim like all Scarabia students know how to do his makeup, but Jamil still does it every morning; or how Kalim knows how to wrap his turban, and has multiple ways of wrapping the headband according to tamashina mina, but jamil still does it + kalim tries to get yuu to do it in one of his voice lines… there’s a lot. it might be easier to say that kalim is completely dependent on jamil and not the other way around, but there are things Kalim did do before book 4 that gave Jamil room outside of his mindset to be able to have the rep he did (before book 4 lmao).
ofc, jamil may have just seen everything as an obligation on his part to comply, or maybe a part of him did see opportunity in what was happening. but in some if not most cases in their interactions, he had to rely on these ideas to build an ego/avoid an ego death. it’s an abstract concept but we do have canon evidence that the interpretation that they’re both codependent on each other is closer to canon than most think; in book 7, it is part of why kalim, although a servant who can do things for jamil, was still in jamil’s dream. said directly in canon, kalim was the reason jamil’s skills developed/were recognized. kalim now being a servant doesn’t change this, bcuz the same “giving” and “taking” applies here when it comes to jamil’s skills. bcuz this is something they both actively did, it doesn’t matter who the servant or master is in the context, it’ll happen anyway to form a similar ego for jamil whether he is the master or servant. i feel like that’s pretty big evidence anyway.
thank you for enjoying my thoughts again!!! it was fun answering this. hope this was all self-explanatory and if there needs to be clarification let me know 🙏
i feel like people forget the point of jamil’s character is that he is inherently not an honest person and this shouldn’t be controversial. we can have debates on why this is but it is fundamentally a part of his character.
there have been many instances where things like “if the Asim family found out (thing against Kalim), the Viper family would be thrown out” is debunked directly by canon events and what jamil also says about kalim and his upbringing (jamil mentions and actively scorns the fact that kalim is too forgiving of a person to people who try to kill him, and stated by kalim, both jamil and kalim’s dad told him that being poisoned was a part of his fate he needed to accept). it’s contradictory (they accept people killing him but wouldn’t accept a kid they genuinely like getting a higher test score?) and that is the point.
even the cooking thing? jamil wasn’t supposed to be cooking at all when he was younger, even if kalim asked him. you’d think with the way jamil’s parents told him to listen to everything kalim says is just what’s the status quo in the asim estate, but this isn’t the case at all, because the other adults (who are not jamil’s parents) yell at him to not do that and actively go against kalim’s wishes. jamil probably starts actually cooking for the asim family when he made food for himself to bring to the estate, stopped because najma kept stealing it so the adults made him food to eat there instead, and jamil didn’t like that so he made food for himself at the kitchen there. then he cooked food for the asim family but obviously he didn’t do everything, he made the recipe but as he mentions he had many professional chefs to help. this sounds more like an enrichment opportunity than anything else. (and it oh look the guy who is emotionally and socially intelligent when it comes to other people is also asking, after jamil recalls this, if jamil is really trying to avoid work or not. that’s cater btw im talking abt cater)
like things in canon actively present information that tells the readers what the problem with jamil’s situation is. it has everything to do with his parents trying to get him to be subservient to kalim all the time. not bcuz there is a punishment awaiting for them if they don’t, because clearly there isn’t, but because they wanted to curry more favour from kalim and his parents. (this “greed” is what leona alludes to about the sorceror of the sands, what is represented with the “cave of wonders collapsing” imagery in the scarabia song, part of jamil’s acceptance of his overblot form in book 7, and a part of the lyrics of jamil’s character song).
in my opinion, i honestly believe jamil thought that there would be a punishment bcuz 1. he actively didn’t see any benefit to being Kalim’s friend before book 6 (“who would want to voluntarily be your friend?”) until leona explains kalim’s “skills”; 2. his parents thought he’d understand exactly why they’re doing it (“you’re smart, so you understand, right?”), and so he believed in his conclusion that he never really cross referenced with anything else he knew about Kalim, and 3. that last part is bcuz he never saw the point of Kalim’s actions in relation to him, but just that everything Kalim did was a result of his wealth and status, so things like “kalim stalked me on cameras” doesn’t register to him as “kalim committed a crime and i should be rightfully uncomfortable”, but “Kalim used his status to get access and i should be upset over his use of power”. this also includes Kalim’s forgiveness and Jamil not registering how it would extend to him - just anger over Kalim’s forgiveness just being another sign of his wealth (which is a loaded topic bcuz even Kalim doesn’t just outright forgive people as revealed in Book 7, but it’s implied it’s an obligation of his, which makes sense considering his dad’s attitude about his poison attempts).
anyway all this is to say that they are actually complex characters and id really appreciate it if people actually saw the character for the character so we don’t get people saying “jamil and kalim should have developed like this!!1!!! this solved nothing!!1!!!!!” even though all they understood about them was through a two sentence tweet and not read the entire story + vignettes for themselves. like … the answers to most of your questions are in the stories guys. it’s not like scarabia is completely shrouded in mystery or whatever, just do your homework
thinking abt jamil and kalim today. i don't like when ppl say kalim's life isn't really that great in a way jamil doesn't see and if only jamil could understand that then he wouldn't be so resentful of kalim's privilege. like my opinion is that No that's exactly Why jamil's resentful actually. jamil Sees the ways that kalim's life sucks. but he just does not have a lot of sympathy for kalim because he goes through those situations with kalim, and he sees the difference that comes with the level of privilege kalim wields. and to him that makes those struggles kind of laughable in comparison to his own.
like yeah kalim has had attempts on his life and still sits and eats at the same table as people who try to poison him . and nobody is denying that having people you know trying to assassinate you isn't traumatic. but also like canonically who do you think is most at risk of consuming that poison. Kalim??? or his POISON TESTER. jamils eating at that exact same table And he sure as fuck is not forgiving that assassin the same way kalim is able to because He has to make sure kalim's stupid forgiving nature doesn't open up the perfect avenue for this guy to try murder Again. kalim has the privilege to forgive this guy and be gracious JAMIL DOES NOT!!!!
another great example is the reason behind why kalim doesn't like to eat curry. poisoned curry sent jamil into a coma and kalim got distressed about it. Obviously this is traumatic for kalim . but you know . Who else . It would affect...... THE GUY IN THE FUCKING COMA....? kalim has the privilege to say "I never want to eat curry again because it sent Jamil into a coma" and it's just Done because he's the boss. jamil Does Not have the privilege to say "I don't want to poison test kalim's food again because it sent Me into a coma" because he has to serve kalim. and it doesn't matter what jamils personal feelings are on curry even though he was the one who GOT POISONED BY IT. do you get it now. is it clicking
this is a lot so tiny warning in advance but i have a few things;
@ the person in the reblog tags saying that “now Jamil isn’t allowed to have curry” (skip to second paragraph to see my reply to og post), no, kalim literally gets Jamil curry chefs to learn from for his birthday, and Kalim literally goes to a cooking prep just for spice-based dishes (which would include curry). he never explains specifically why Jamil getting a coma through curry = curry is banned, we just assume the only reason is bcuz he is traumatized. it may have something to do with the fact that the spices in the curry make it that much harder for Kalim to figure out if there’s poison or not and that was one mistake he doesn’t plan on making again. and he learnt poison detection at all specifically so jamil didn’t need to taste test for him. projecting ideas onto them that canon already disproved (“kalim banned it and Jamil can’t eat it anymore!!1!”) is part of the problem and why people even emphasize kalim’s trauma at all, to at least get people to start looking at the character truly instead of an idea of them in their heads. i am brown and grew up in a poor family so if you wanna play race olympics too then let’s do this 💪 genuinely i just enjoy kalim more bcuz although both jamil and kalim are dishonest & hypocrites, one of them doesn’t then make it someone else’s (many someones) problem to “truly understand them” despite the dishonesty. kalim gets mad at jamil bcuz jamil isn’t getting what he wants for himself and resorting to smth that made him overblot in book 4, and its how you know kalim is a genuinely selfless person. as someone who’s been in jamil’s position one of these is more tolerable to me esp since the guy doesn’t mind sharing his wealth, and the other is a lot more privileged being in that position than i ever was and still wants more (jamil character song lyrics drop). (emphasizing this, kalim doesn’t correct any of his siblings when they call him nii-sama, but jamil gets to use only kalim’s name)
back to the actual post. i think people brush over the fact that kalim learnt how to detect poisons himself without Jamil needing to taste test for poison all the time. which is why, again, people are saying to pay attention to the fact that it’s Kalim who is the target of being poisoned and not Jamil. talking about jamil’s lack of understanding isn’t about his lack of sympathy (although this is something that makes me feel less sympathetic, not of his situation but in general, bcuz you do reap what you sow). it’s his lack of understanding of Kalim’s skills (ie saying in book 5 that there’s no way Kalim would be able to detect a magic curse used as poison for a murder attempt … until that’s exactly what he does with vil) (and it’s bcuz he pays attention to people that he was able to do this) (also in kalim’s lab cost where jamil says he couldn’t possibly make the meals in a day) (until… bcuz ruggie had kalim’s help that’s exactly what happened) (and before you say “but Jamil vocalized this!” jamil vocalizes a lot of things that are or aren’t true and kalim has the patience of a saint to not have punched him over the dorm leader thing in book 4 when Kalim had asked him about it all the way in the beginning of the year in his ceremony robes. he even gets upset with Jamil bcuz Jamil keeps calling him stupid and still expects him to sort all the mixed messages of what Jamil rly wants) (despite this kalim genuinely wants to try to figure it out with the real jamil, the one who isn’t honest - hard path to good results is the Scarabia way)
like yeah jamil doesn’t have sympathy for Kalim, this is a fact; he along with Kalim’s dad are the two people who basically told Kalim to suck it up bcuz it’s his fate. he doesn’t cope with it in the way Jamil wants him to, but people confuse kindness for carelessness, which is Jamil’s problem bcuz Kalim’s kindness protects + helps Kalim, and kalim was told to just cope when it came to his (emphasizing on his) fate and has taken precautions himself to make sure he isn’t poisoned. and there is a difference between his kindness and carelessness - like Kalim yelling at Vil over trying to poison Neige in the moment (and Jamil still finds a way to make it about Kalim being careless which Kalim almost yells at him for too, but just thanks him afterwards for saving them) or Kalim yelling at Jade for saying OB group could possibly be dead. and with the way the Asim family raised kalim (to be isolated - he couldn’t even go to middle school even though Jamil was able to attend), it’s also why i don’t think jamil is supposed to be taste testing Kalim’s food
i think a lot of people misconstrue what was actually enforced on Jamil in terms of his servitude to kalim vs what we think. in Jade’s Halloween story the adults yell at a younger Jamil for cooking bcuz “children aren’t supposed to cook with fire”. there’s a really weird emphasis on safety there when everything else suggests that they didn’t care about jamil. eventually, he did take on this task, but when and how wasn’t specified. it makes sense, since his backstory mainly shows his parents telling Jamil to be second to Kalim in everything, but nothing else - not even from the Asim family. we never question why jamil didn’t have trauma from being poisoned by curry or why smth like this wasn’t a part of his woes in his backstory. i think it’s fair to assume that he just didn’t regret choosing to do it, like how he’ll never regret choosing to protect kalim (and says that Azul mischaracterized Jamil in book 7 bcuz Kalim made the contract with Azul, which Jamil wouldn’t have let happen). not to deny it shaped his identity and what lengths Jamil himself will go to to get things done, but again his problems with kalim were about him having to be second to Kalim in everything bcuz of jamil’s parents, and Kalim’s seeming lack of care for it (it’s implied in book 4 jamil backstory that Jamil was expecting Kalim to notice but kept on getting blindsided by him and dropped his expectations) (doesn’t help that he normally sees Kalim as useless and unskilled) (in the same vein, it also doesn’t help that Jamil simultaneously wants to show his skill and vocalizes getting less work at the same time) (bcuz kalim was always trying to look for ways to help jamil even before book 4 but again - mixed messages. does he want to be voluntold to show his skills or does he want to rely on someone to help him? does he want both at the same time? does he want it with people other than kalim? lots of kalim’s interactions with jamil involved kalim trying to answer these questions but it goes under the radar. when kalim isn’t hypnotized in book 4 he’s still trying.)
he does hate Kalim’s lack of care for their situation, but like alab nariya moment where kalim stalking Jamil doesn’t register to Jamil as “this is a problem because this is a crime” but “this is a problem because Kalim used his power to be able to do it” (and cater is the one who takes a double take at this and mentions the priority), it has everything to do with Kalim’s exercise of privilege and not what it means to Jamil. (which is also why, despite knowing Kalim was raised to be forgiving and to have a “suck it up” attitude when it comes to people who harm him, and Jamil actively complains about it) (even tho he was one of two people who encouraged it haha…) (Jamil still believed he and his family would get thrown out if he did the slightest thing wrong against Kalim) (and this in itself is also bcuz Jamil didn’t understand why the adults wanted to curry Kalim’s favour so badly bcuz he’s useless af. there is no other option in his mind except that there would be a horrible punishment awaiting if they don’t) (“who would want to be your friend voluntarily??” -> this question gets answered later). there is def the question of why jamil’s priorities are like this but ill leave that for others to talk abt.
also kalim also went into a coma! i… i can’t believe i have to say this… tunnel vision is real. (see 4-7) the book does also touch on the curry incident, but its vague on whether these two happened at the same. it does help that kalim says “it was only found in my food”. he really wanted to emphasize jamil’s suffering and ignore his own, so he was vague - like usual - but eng version does clear this up that they both went comatose bcuz its harder for Kalim to be vaguer about it) (and kalim prioritizing other people and debasing himself and his feelings for other people, despite what they do to him, including forgiving them, is what Azul says Jamil most likely finds annoying) (but kalim will also do this to support jamil) (and hey book 7 also expanded on this to emphasize that Kalim forgiving people is a choice and not something he always wants to do) (like ofc he has privilege but he can’t change that? it’s not like money = evil and kind of money but not rly = good. how he chooses to use it is what matters. if you want him to learn to punish people over what they do to him bcuz it’ll make Jamil’s life easier, then jamil would not have gotten the same outcome when it comes to consequences as in game) (and he still would have been pushed to do a book 4 anyway, even if kalim was more punishing! bcuz the problem isn’t Jamil taste testing for kalim but again his parents telling him to come second to him in everything) (which now I’m wondering if people actually want kalim to do it, not bcuz it makes sense to kalim’s character, but to affirm jamil’s perspective… interesting meta conversation that just annoys me bcuz it’s also why people like talking abt kalim not knowing how to do anything and then leave him at that instead of seeing his development and the earnestness that the game explicitly talks about multiple times that motivates him to improve) anyway, like Kalim tells Jamil, he didn’t do anything else to Jamil after book 4 bcuz he likes interesting people and the variety of people at NRC.
anyway to end off. they both can be unreliable narrators but it just so happens that kalim (used to be) an unreliable narrator in the “i will affirm and support everything Jamil does” direction, while Jamil is… the exact same with kalim except his gets dismantled explicitly by the narrative multiple times, even before book 4, because ultimately it is jamil’s story. does perspective=truth? not rly esp when Jamil contradicts himself… a lot lmao. still wrapping my head around him complaining about how forgiving kalim is and somehow not registering that applying to Jamil coming first sometimes too (that’s bcuz the only people giving him consequences for it are jamil’s parents and he thought they were an extension of the actual rules) (Futaba did call Jamil a clumsy person…)
so i really hope people actually read all of this + go to the stories to confirm for themselves instead of seeing one word they don’t like and creating a problem from it bcuz yes. the vignettes + events outside of book 4 does explain some of their situation well and doesn’t leave things that ambiguous…
so we all know that kirby came from a “spring breeze”. and we unfortunately also want to know what this is a metaphor for. so thankfully something on my timeline came up (hi cookie run kingdom) that prompted me to answer the rest of this, and it is highly implied that kirby is an offspring of zephyrus, Greek god of the west wind - or representative of him
this game loves to shove angelic imagery in everywhere so why not? anyway, the “west wind” talked about here is the springtime wind (also associated with flowers). why specifically would kirby have zephyr imagery? well, zephyrus is also the son of astraes (titan of the dusk and starry sky) (oh wow!), and eos (Greek goddess of dawn).
the other association that zephyrus has is to “procreation” or “rebirths” (oh wow! x2). new beginnings and change and all, considering the breeze that represents transitions into seasons, which makes sense considering kirby’s copy ability where he has an ever-changing form
back to rebirth and new beginnings, there’s one other major place the “spring breeze” is referenced in; the menu card for the morpho knight ability. if you’re wondering what that pause before “but for Kirby, handling this power is… a breeze” meant to imply, it was this! both morpho knight and kirby seem to be offsprings of zephyrus/representative of zephyrus, but in two wildly different directions
(morpho knight also has allusions to psyche, but zephyrus and psyche do have history where zephyrus carries psyche to safety) (i do like the implication that at the end of whatever morpho knight’s arc is, kirby does get to save him)
…so i did analyze the rest anyway; boreas is the north wind and represents winter. he has a rivalry with zephyrus. makes sense as to why king dedede is a penguin. he was considered very strong with a short temper, and dwelled on the mountains (oh wow! x3) (mt dedede…)
bandee most likely represents eurus, the east wind, as eurus is depicted with a sickle and a grain sheath. his symbol is water pouring out of a vase. the imagery here is harvest, which makes sense bcuz of bandee’s role in some 3DS games where he passes food along to kirby to heal
there’s been a lot of depiction of notus in rick riordian’s works so excuse me if i accidentally bring fiction into this, but this most likely represents meta knight. flooding is a natural disaster associated with notus as the summer wind, and he has sunk ships like Psyllos’ ship. (hi Halberd) (sunk his own ship lmao)
My favorite Kalim hc is that there is just something objectively wrong with him. It's not that he's secretly sadistic or cruel or even particularly strange, but everyone who's known him since he was a baby can tell you for a fact that he's really off
And they can probably tell you as well when the shift happened in his childhood. Kalim was kidnapped one day, and when he came back, he was just weird. It would've been easier if he'd developed some tangible, visceral trauma response. Instead, he just developed... a vibe?
POV you're a servant at the Asim estate and you entered the heir's chambers only to find a singular child, inside the empty courtyard, staring into nothing. ⁰⁰
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