correct me if i'm wrong, but "ilya's sexual history is mostly a trauma response" and "shane is pure and his sexuality is centered around ilya" can only be based in canon if we are shipping tv shane with book ilya, right?
book shane was actively seeking out sexual pleasure from other men. when he was talking about how it was less satisfying, he said that he was scared the whole time, not that he was 'ilya-sexual.' and he was seeking sexual pleasure from women too! even though it was futile, he still believed for most of the book that he would find a special girl who would satisfy him. book shane was not as sexually passive as tv shane.
and do we see any evidence on-screen that ilya's sexual behavior was a trauma response? tv ilya's sexual behavior was pretty healthy. also, he came off as much, much, much more risk-averse on the show than in the book. his only male partner besides shane is sasha, whom he rejects by the time russia implemented the more restrictive anti-queer laws.
i've seen a LOT of meta and fic about how ilya "gave up" russia/a relationship with his niece/his mother's grave for love of shane, which i don't actually think has any basis in book canon? i get that it appeals to people who like the idea of a grand romantic sacrifice, but do you think reid meant for us to see it that way? isn't going to ottawa, not canada, the grand romantic gesture? book ilya would have needed to renounce his citizenship to be safe, shane or no shane, because book ilya was having sex with other men, and he never once expressed a desire to stop having sex with men.
i've seen more people bring up ilya's one-night-stands as a sign his attitude towards sex was unhealthy than i have seen bring up the fact that he slept with his brother's girlfriend. i think having sex with his brother's girlfriend is much more significant. to be fair, i didn't catch that detail when i was reading the book. i saw a comment on tumblr about it a few days ago.
and he followed that up by saying he had slept with his teammate’s sister, teammate's girlfriend, & his coach’s son. he didn't take note of his partners' personalities, their appearance, their actions towards him, only their connection to hockey. wasn't his choice to have sex with people (of any gender) in the hockey world also a sign that he was risk-taking or self-destructive? or, in a darker reading, trying to use sex to symbolically dominate his coach or his brother or his teammate (or rival...)? i think all this says something about ilya's initial attraction to shane that some people might not want to think about because it 'corrupts' it. but it's not part of tv ilya's characterization yet.
in a utopia where men do not feel ownership over the sexuality of their female loved ones, sleeping with a player’s sister would not be a big deal, but is the gcu that kind of world? are we supposed to ignore the ways these choices posed a risk to team dynamics or even his career? i can't tell if i'm reading too far into this (i can say that my cousins played high school and college football and said 'don't touch her' whenever they introduced me and their sisters to their teammates. if i had hooked up with one of their teammates, it would have definitely led to a fistfight. i'm not russian, though. is that type of misogyny is common in sports spaces there?)
none of this is meant as a critique of fans, i love all kinds of fic including the fic i interpret as tv shane/book ilya. i think it's interesting, though, which parts of these character histories become fanon!
Oh man this is all so good I had COMPLETELY forgotten the whole thing about Ilya canonically pursuing other people’s girlfriends and wives and family members. I gotta chew on this.
So to address your first point: yes I think you’re right it’s a bit of a show!Shane X book!Ilya thing. Show Ilya (correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been a while) isn’t really shown having a ton of sex? Like we see him clubbing and we see him with Svetlana but I think that’s it? Right? Like if you didn’t have the context of the books I’m not sure how obvious it’d be that he’s having loads of sex. And you’re right everything we do see looks like a pretty healthy and normal relationship to sex.
In the book Ilya does have a thought around 2014 (Vegas) that it’d been two years since he’s hooked up with a guy who isn’t Shane. So from 2012 onward Shane’s the only man he sleeps with (assuming he continues in that manner). I think this is a risk aversion thing but also meant to be romantic.
I 100% agree with you that there’s a much darker interpretation of Ilya’s character in HR than fandom typically wants to tussle with. Early Ilya has this deep resentment and envy of Shane that I don’t think ever truly goes away—frankly, I do think their first hookups have a lot of the “drag him down with me” kind of energy for Ilya, where it’s exciting for him to think about getting the Shane Hollander, with his perfect life and family, on his knees. I think there’s absolutely an element of dominance there that does feel very in line with fucking your coach’s son or your brother’s gf.
(And yes I do think the physicality of Ilya topping Shane is relevant here, psychologically. And the game Ilya plays where he pretends like he’s not going to reciprocate the first time they suck each other off.)
The journey Ilya goes on that disturbs him so much is he starts desiring emotional closeness from Shane. I love the Vegas POV so much because he’s completely flipping out about this and his mindset has shifted from “wow it’s so fucking hot to get Shane Hollander on his knees” to “oh my god I need Hollander to push me around and use me and pet my hair and is this a test from god? Is he an actual sex demon? Have I been possessed? Blyat”
I agree that yeah it’s picking Ottawa specifically that’s the romantic gesture, not leaving Boston or leaving behind Russia. I’ve made this argument before a few times—Ilya was always going to leave Russia behind. In both canons the only version of Ilya who could have held onto Russia would have been a diminished, unhappy man who buried his queerness and shoved himself into the mold his family made for him. Shane or no Shane, I don’t think Ilya would have done that. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone to Canada—I do think Ilya would have been perfectly safe in the US, especially in a no Trump world—but he wouldn’t have been keeping ties with Russia. Like if Hollanov never happens we still get the Skip kiss, Ilya is still bisexual, maybe he still falls in love with a man down the road. I know it’s a popular take to say tv!Ilya ends up with tv!Svetlana and never comes out but I don’t like this for a number of reasons I won’t get into here. But needless to say I feel like this has to do with the idea that bisexuality is a “lesser” queer identity than being gay, and people forgetting that Ilya’s conflict around his sexuality actually doesn’t have that much to do with Shane specifically (and that this is also true of Shane’s conflict).
To go back to the Ilya sleeping with teammates’ sisters thing: I think Ilya pre-Stanley cup ish is a much more self destructive person. We’re not really privy to Ilya’s character change, but just from the outside the 27 year old Ilya who shows up at the cottage is pretty clearly not the 17 year old Ilya who was angry about Shane’s very existence and chasing his brother’s girlfriend. I think there’s a crucial character arc for Ilya we only see from the outside with Sochi -> Stanley win -> Vegas -> Ilya’s dad getting sicker -> Ilya’s priorities shifting towards Canada and Shane. But before that I think Ilya would just do stuff because it was risky, because it was a thrill. And there’s obviously the whole domination side of it. Hate your shitty brother? Fuck his girlfriend. Hate your shitty coach? Fuck his son. Hate shitty perfect Shane Hollander who wants to steal your draft spot? Fuck him…
