Wick's strongest soldier

Ranking the C4 characters based on how much I want them to be in a party with Tyranny after the convergence:

Thimble: They have such parallel stories to one another with Wick and Thjazi that were just starting to be realized at the end of the Soldiers arc, I need them to be able to talk about it and bond over an arc.

Vaelus: The newborn baby and the old woman. Another character Tyranny is incredibly similar to. Their relationships to their creators and how devotion plays a role in their lives would be super interesting to explore.

Occtis: The most traditionally monstrous characters (demon and undead) that by their nature have a different way of viewing the world that could be really interesting to compare. Also at least let her eat one of his ears. As a treat.

Thaisha: The first person outside of Wick that Tyranny viewed as a friend. Like with Wick, I think Thaisha would be extremely helpful in getting Tyranny to self-actualize and find her place outside of helping Wick and enjoying the material world.

Kattigan: His and Tyranny's growing, pseudo-father/daughter bond is so interesting from the perspective of both of their characters and I'd really love to see it continue to grow without the long gap between arcs.

Azune: Both characters have really fascinating themes surrounding identity and what their purpose is in a way that'd be very interesting to explore. Plus Azune's apparent age regression and Tyranny being physically in her 20s, existensially 400+, and technically 6 months old simultaneously opens interesting possibilities for their dynamics.

Murray: I just think they're neat.

Bolaire: I'm really curious to learn more about Kshar'avi and what Bolaire knows about Araman's cosmology and I think it would be cool to see Tyranny prompt that.

Teor, Hal, Julien: There hasn't been anything in particular to incite me wanting them in a party to the level of any of the other characters.

Ranking the C4 characters based on how much I want them to be in a party with Wick after the convergence:

Occtis: I need these two to circle each other like stray cats for a full arc and come out the other side best friends, lovers, or the worst enemies at the table.

Thaisha: I actually think Thaisha would be the character most helpful to Wick's development. They're actually fairly similar in a lot of ways, even down to their "call-to-adventure" moments being sparked by falling in love with an actor. I think she'd be able to encourage him to be more confident without it seeming like Tyranny or Teor blindly hyping him up.

Azune: My beautiful sad boys. They have such an interesting parallelism with so much about Azune being so deeply embroiled in lies and deception while Wick is unable to lie to save his life, plus Azune's themes regarding family and Wick's desire to burn his family (or at least his grandmother and her influence) to the ground. They're interesting reflections of each other in a way that's not immediately obvious.

Thimble: I love you Wimble you'll always be my favorite.

Julien: I think Julien would be helpful to Wick's development similarly to Thaisha, but in his case it would be from constantly ragebaiting Wick out of his passiveness.

Vaelus: They have so many interesting similarities in their stories and loss of faith, but they just NEVER INTERACT FOR SOME REASON.

Murray: Murray and Wick are such polar opposite characters. Rich vs Poor. Wizard vs Sorcerer. Brilliant Academic vs Wick. They'd just be such interesting characters to see interact long term. Plus Sam's usual ragebaiting of Marisha would be especially funny here.

Bolaire: Bolaire seeing Wick's potential and turning him into a project/potential asset to mentor would be really fun to see.

Teor, Hal, Katt: I like Wick's interactions with all of them but none of them really bring the interesting story potential that I see with the other characters, imo.

Wick's occasional outbursts of anger are such an underrated aspect of his characterization. Beyond just being something refreshingly different from his usual sweet/sad/scared trinity, I think it shows A LOT about the environment he was raised in.

Wick is a patient man, he only actually breaks down into anger when he's already been pushed to his limit with stress. His grandmother refusing his pleas to spare Thjazi and Tyranny continually ignoring him, his first time on death's door, being insulted (and even punched) constantly by his allies, etc. And when he snaps it only directed at the cause of his frustration (Tyranny disobeying him, Thaisha killing one of the luxes in a spur of the moment, Julien punching him). And when he doesn't have someone in particular to snap at, he just simmers in self-resentment.

When he does lose his temper, it reflects on Yanessa in a couple interesting ways. For one, it honestly makes him resemble Yanessa's aggression a lot. It's quick, it's loud, and it's mean.

But moreso it reflects the effect growing up around her anger had on him and his ability to stand up for himself. He may have been his family's favorite child, but his reaction to Yanessa's outburst in episode 3 reads to me as someone who is used to seeing it and being cowed into submission by it, or seeing others be cowed by it.

It explains a lot about Wick, despite sometimes having misplaced confidence, being so hesitant to actually stand up for himself until his stress boils over into rage and he can't stop himself. Then he usually feels the need to apologize immediately afterword. Being in that environment trained him to be obedient and passive, even in the face of anger and insults.

He never learned to stand up for himself normally, so now he just lets his stress build up continuously until it boils over into aggression.

THIS FRAME FROM ONE OF THE PREVIEWS HAS SO MUCH MORE CONTEXT NOW

"Everyone loves Wicander... not us!"