Honestly, It's Embarrassing How Much My Inner Horse-girl Is Enjoying This

but like imagine this, if there were deaths in a third soc book:

wylan would die first (from an explosion, oit of irony) because we can all agree he's like a son to kaz, and it would be devastating. so then kaz has all this pent-up emotion. and jesper's unhinged gambling addiction gets worse, which gets kaz even more worried. because he's like a brother to kaz. and he does something reckless on this job, which therefore gets him severely injured, and he dies in inej's arms. and that leads to inej trying to help jesper cope while also suffering internally herself.

when news reaches nina in ravka, she thinks that kaz forged inej's signature at the end of the letter as a cruel joke. she went along with it anyway since she missed when the crows were all together. nina brought a few traditional ravkan treats that she knew kaz liked no matter how much he denied it. when she arrived at the slat, it was empty. nina went to the crow club and found inej with a far away look. she gave up on trying to help jesper with his addiction. im too lazy to be in writing mode, so im gonna half-ass the rest. anyway, nina had to snap inej out of her daze and ask her where kaz was. that's when inej finally broke down, and any word she muttered was incoherent. after what felt like ages, jesper went over to the two girls and told nina what happened. "the ol' dirtyhands finally kicked the bucket. thought he was immortal for a while. wylan went just before him."

there was nothing else but sobs that day and screaming out to the sky why everything that happened happened. bit over a week later, there was a joint service. inej engraved two slabs for the two out of wood with the first knife kaz gifted to her. she renamed it. sankt rietveld. and that's how she got assigned a new job. revenge. with a gloved hand holding her knife. (shitty ending, not enough detail, but here you go)

before, there were six of crows. then five. now only three.

i originally shared this with a server im in and, therefore, was banished to hellgate by my friends for making them all cry. oops. anyway, fuck you guys [affectionately but not really].

missing this barrel rat right now

this is a super funny comparison but i actually really liked bunny for a similar reason. like the bunnies are, on paper, trying to make samantha happier, friendlier, more free in her creativity, its just that happiness in their world means a certain sort of thing which someone like samantha cant achieve without being hollowed out and brainwashed first. the bunnies are all about enabling their most surface level self-indulgent desires, and thats not all bad. its in fact kind of a good impulse that comes from wanting to free themselves and each other from shame. samantha craves validation and companionship and thats not a bad thing either, but it turns her into someone who goes along with acts that fundamentally disgust her for the sake of feeling valued.

its not a one-to-one comparison to what i was talking abt earlier with reanimator but i do kind of love horror dynamics that are all about like a well meaning protag with normal human desires and follies that gets drawn in by a villain(s) who like enables those desires until the protag cant tell the difference between what they want and what theyre simply willing to endure in order to get that superficial validation.

Kaz Brekker, bastard of the Barrell, Dirtyhands being described in everyone else’s chapters

Kaz Brekker, during his own chapters internally simping over Inej Ghafa

each and every day i'm getting closer to watching free rein. it'd be such a fever dream and my inner horse-girl-child would be so thrilled

Freddy Carter went from stealing medical supplies for sick horses as Pin Hawthorn to becoming bastard of the barrel attempting to steal the sun summoner and if that’s not character development then I don’t know what is

You know I think an underrated theme in SOC is that, the adults have ruined the future of the next generation. They have created an inhumane environment that serves only them. They've crushed and wrung out the lives of the weaker and the new, keeping them desperate, subjugated, exploited, and dead. Pekka Rollins, Tante Heleen, Jan Van Eck, Jarl Brum, these are our villains.

But Six of Crows also says that these circumstances have manufactured a much darker and tougher individual than these people can imagine. While the older generation are content to rest on their laurels and their ill gotten easy lives, their juniors are sharpening their pain into cruel and effective tools, with a drive that someone on top simply cannot understand.

Idk, I think it's an interesting and empowering (if not subversively harsh) message for its core audience as a YA novel.

one thing the show missed how deadpan and hilarious kaz is like he had such a slick mouth like in the books one of the reason why he was such a fun character was because how ruthless he was but also he was so outta pocket all the time like he had so much witty one liners

u all better be streaming sab s2 like turn it on as background noise bc if i don’t get to witness feral kaz carrying inej to the boat and ripping out a man’s eye i’m going to start breaking necks

Imagine Ketterdam centuries in the future, where all six crows have become saints, and their shenanigans have too many references sin history books to be written off as fairytales.

Kaz Brekker, the Saint of thieves who takes pity on the lost souls and evokes power into the hearts of crooks.

Inej Ghafa the Saint of the abused, holding a protective hand over those who share her story and causing slavers great misfortune.

Jesper Fahey, the Saint of treasure whose name those whisper at gambling tables for good luck and is said to guard all zowa.

Wylan Hendriks, a Saint of runaways who watches over the shaken souls and bruised children who slip out of their bedroom windows to start new lives.

Nina Zenik, the Saint of lovers who couples leave offerings to in hopes that their love will be eternal, no matter what.

Matthias Helvar, the Saint of soldiers who younglings going to war pray to for mercy, and known to protect Grisha when called upon.