no light

Theresa could have been the main character and nothing in the story would have had to change and I have an AU in my head to prove it except Henry dies while recoverig at the mill, but yk, small changes

sillier version under the cut + little guys

threw colors on my warmup but now im tired. stupittttttt

popyp

I've been writing Hansry since April 2018. But my first KCD fic ever was about Theresa.

You know what drives me nuts about this girl?

It's because even though she loves him, cares for him, worries about him, and arguably even (emotionally) needs him alive: Henry isn't what she wants.

The Theresa we come to know in KCD, the one who exists in the aftermath of disaster, cares SO much for this lad. She shows it in her actions more than her words, which can be restrained and remote, emotionally unavailable. But that is a recent development.

Frankly: She lived her entire life in Skalitz with him as an afterthought.

To Tess, he wasn't a main character in anyone's story. He wasn't the object of her unflinching desire or her obsession. He was always just stupid old Hal under the castle hill. Martin & Jane's son from up at the smithy. Some passable, foolish, cute-enough dude who was fooling around with her bestie (blech!). As for many young adult women, it was not any boy or crush or marriage prospect, but her friends, especially BIANCA, who were the huge social presence in her life. Not Henry, and probably never Henry... except for what happened.

What drives me so nuts about this is that though Tess and Henry seem confused about their romantic connection, they have one clarity: each anchors the other in the past. But they do so from completely different angles, and to completely different ends.

1. they found the kuttenberg map and subsequent quests less engaging than trosky because it felt like henry had fewer personal stakes in the conflict after killing istvan.

2. they didn’t discuss the romance.

i don’t blame these folks for not including romance analysis in their 1+ hour videos, it’s all good, BUT. i was lowkey tearing my hair out like ahh that’s the point! henry is driven by purpose, and when his original goal of vengeance against istvan is fulfilled, he is left conflicted and drifting until he can find purpose in something new…or something (someONE) that’s been there the whole time. henry’s story is about disrupting the cycle of violence through human connection! refusing to let vengeance consume you by finding other reasons to keep living! and even without the romantic angle, henry finds purpose in his role as hans’ friend/protector, and hans too finds purpose beyond the constraints of his noble status in his bond with henry!! literally as soon as henry gets to suchdol fortress he’s like “idgaf about your truce, jobst, i need to save capon.” after being tortured, killing istvan, retrieving the sword, and fleeing trosky, henry is exhausted and desperate for a new reason to keep moving forward, and he reaches for hans. always hans.

obviously i am biased, but i truly believe that the story of kcd2 is better by romancing hans. it’s optional, sure, player choice etc, but so is confronting markvart outside of suchdol, and i think we can all agree that that scene is very impactful on the story and themes. there’s SO MUCH MORE i could get into on why i think the hans romance is essential to understanding kcd2 and henry’s story (they are narrative foils, they have parallel but opposite coming-of-age storylines, they are both redefining themselves in the wake of trauma and refusing to be what others say they are, hans kisses first - chooses henry first - but henry commits to hans in return, no more running from yourself and who you are and what you want to be) but that would be full-essay territory, probably, and this post is obnoxiously long as is.