jesper fahey is SO criminally underrated cause what do you mean this boy loves being around animals? what do you mean he can sew? what do you mean seeing cherry blossoms makes him sad? what do you mean he once fabrikated a jurda field to spell out a curse word in giant letters? what do you mean he immediately jumps up to help his dad the moment he starts doing something? what do you MEAN he told JAN VAN ECK “i can read to him”? what do you MEAN he constantly worries that he’s not good enough? WHAT do you MEAN he’s constantly yearning for kaz’s approval and care? WHAT do you MEAN he can CURVE BULLETS MIDAIR TO HIT A TARGET HE CANT EVEN FUCKING SEE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN-
Jesper and his father is one of my favorite dynamics in SoC becuase of its realistic complexity ahdjajdowkfjfb. It’s crazy how in Six of Crows, we see Jesper thinking “I’m not worth my father’s care” / imagining how his father would berate him but when we get to Crooked Kingdom, Colm is the complete opposite. Yes he does get mad at Jesper for getting in a fight with Kaz. Yes he’s stern to Jesper. but the entire time Colm never disowns Jesper or take back his love and concern for him. Everyone agrees Colm would be the perfect father figure for the Crows.
BUT AT THE SAME TIME THAT LOVE AND CONCERN ALSO ENDED UP HURTING JESPER BECAUSE COLM MADE IT SEEM LIKE BEING GRISHA WAS BAD??? THE FACT THAT COLM’S INTENTION TO PROTECT JESPER FROM DYING LIKE HIS MOM DID BROUGHT SO MUCH INSECURITY TO JESPER LATER ON IN LIFE?? THAT PART BRINGS ME TO TEARS UGH DONT LOOK AT ME
We hear about it so much in Jesper’s chapter of CK, but I think Chapter 24 is where it just hits the hardest because we get that scene where Colm says to the Grisha trainers “No one here has the gift and no one here wants it.” And I think that part was one of many things that stuck with Jesper as he grew up. Yes, Colm blatantly lied about them not being Grisha. But the fact that Colm is also saying “no one WANTS to be Grisha here” either??? When Jesper, obviously a Grisha, was sitting there and listening?? You CANNOT tell me Jesper didn’t think about that moment and start internalizing the flawed idea that being Grisha is something that is wrong. I feel this could relate to a LOT of people hiding things seen as “shameful” to their parents, especially parents who actively shun those things. For the majority of SoC and CK, Jesper actively hides his Grisha powers because he STILL sees it as something “wrong” with him. The fact that the majority of the world he lives in demonizes, weaponizes, or otherwise dehumanizes Grisha makes that worse. It’s only after the events of the duology that Jesper can start dismantling that mindset.