I just want to make a quick note about this before people get too silly about the situation. It's very important to remember that Robbie is Native American, and is putting a lot of work into making sure that Kattigan has indigenous cultural touchstones as part of his characterization. And that is the appropriate lens through which we should view his missing and murdered wife and daughter, I think.
I would be reluctant to use fridging in this exact context, because this isn't some imaginary scenario to generate manpain for a white hero, this is a much more common experience of Native American and First Nation people, having their wives and daughters and sisters (in particular, but not exclusively) go missing. And never getting answers, never learning what happened, and not being believed that there's a problem in the first place.
This is like how being rescued from a tower by a prince is not particularly empowering or affirming to cis physically able straight thin perisex white women and girls, but can be for basically anybody else. Particularly black girls and women, who do not get a lot of cultural messages that treat them as people who are so valuable and precious, who may not have the strength to save themselves, or may wish that they didn't fucking have to save themselves (and everyone else) all the time.
White men have this story so often happen that we have a trope name specific to one specific and particularly egregious version of this, but you don't often see men who look like Robbie dealing with this type of story in fictional settings, even though it happens for men like Robbie in real life with horrifying frequency.
Sometimes stories that are old can be new again in different hands, from different point of views, so just... mind how you step here.
#this is INCREDIBLY well said #kattigan’s alcoholism and his missing and murdered wife and daughter are parts of him deeply rooted in native american experience #robbie is a guy who LOVES his wife and daughters #he wouldn’t just give his character a dead wife and daughter for fun to generate angst #there’s more going on there#< previous tags#yes exactly this #the context of robbie being indigenous and kattigan being indigenous-coded #changes the nature and messaging behind kattigan's backstory and the loss of his wife and daughter #especially with their kidnapper/murderer being a member of an untouchable privileged class (tags via @navpike and @cassafrasscr)
