Lu Silver

The basic idea of the ubermensch was that of a man who bowed to no one and did things their own way, unconstrained by the rest of humanity

Naturally the nazis ran with this as "the superior race (aryans) shall dominate the lesser races because it is natural that those of greater power shall rule as they please"

I love it so much as well, definitely reverses the expectation that, as Tam is Keefe's parallel (allegedly), he was also a rebellious and trouble-making child before being banished. It also breaks the stereotypes of Tam and Linh's characters. Tam is the "Shade", the "bad boy" that people loooove to pair with Biana, whereas Linh is this sweet, bubbly girl that is compared to a birdie whereas Tam is a tiger (or maybe it was something else, I don't know).

I'm not sure who canon wants us to think was the golden child. The signs are definitely confusing!

Forkle tells us that although Tam was getting really good grades, Linh's were even more impressive. If we're talking golden child à la Fitz, that would point Linh for this.

But then you have Mai Song and her very much boy mom energy in Nightfall. She wants to keep Tam and she doesn't seem to insist much when Tam tells her Linh isn't coming. That would suggest Tam is maybe the favorite.

BUT THEN you have Tam who gives an account about the time he accidentally spilled paint on his mom's sleeve as a child and his dad locked him in his room for three days. That would suggest Tam is the trouble-making twin.

BUT THEN when Tam and Linh share their backstory, Tam says that his parents were way too eager to make him an only son. So, again, is Tam the golden child?

Quan also told everyone that Tam was the elder son which makes me wonder if it's not a callback to traditional Asian households where the elder son is cherished while the daughter.s are in his shadow.

When Linh was struggling with her abilities her mother refused to move out from Choralemere, purposefully took her on a trip to Atlantis, and did not defend her when the Council decided to banish her to Exilium. That means Linh could be the black sheep.

BUT when Quan sees Tam carrying an inanimate body into his house he immediately thinks Tam did it (which is hilarious but still) suggesting maybe Tam is the trouble-making one.

Anyways it is really confusing and the more you dig the more confusing it gets. I feel like, if we're talking Shannon, she would deffo go the predictable route with Tam as the trouble-making Shade to add to his bad boy persona (instead of it just being, you know, a DEFENSE MECHANISM) mythos so the fans can continue to squeal about him. Because good boy gone bad is not something that everyone adores (sarcasm).

This was my first year of art fight and I got to draw so my beautiful ocs!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wai to do this next year!!!! (*^▽^*)

Characters belong to:

1. @LingLing_Artsu

2.@lusilver001

3. @tianissilly.bsky.social

4.@ow1some

5. @Crispy_Ramensha

Y'all.

The number of fanworks Maruca and Wylie have compared to characters with the same amount of pagetime is abysmal. And the shipping? You'll ship characters who have never spoken a word to each other just based on vibes, and yet somehow there isn't a single popular ship on here for either of the Black main characters. Weird.

It's funny how you love a tortured man with a tragic backstory—until he's Black. How you love to ship tortured guys with their torturers, and dive into their heads and trauma, and write fic after fic about their recoveries through their relationships—until they're Black.

It's funny how you love protective familial relationships, until they're a Black girl demanding she manifest an ability to help her cousin. Who, by the way, manifests literally the most protective ability there is, becoming a Psionipath. And in turn, her cousin doesn't want her to be in harm's way, and they battle over this, because there's so much love there. You guys go crazy over these dynamics! Until the characters are Black.

There was this edit war I used to get into on the wiki after I made the "Main Characters" category for the navigation menu. I put into it the eight main characters who showed up in all the promotional materials: Sophie, Fitz, Keefe, Dex, Biana, Tam, Linh, and Wylie. Simple.

And yet... People kept taking Wylie out of the category and replacing him with Marella, insisting that she was more of a main character. Despite the fact that Wylie is way more relevant to the overarching plot of the series, being a main feature in the plots of several early books? Despite the fact I was basing this decision on the canon materials? Weird.

Look. I like it on here. But I think a lot of you need to spend less time patting yourselves on the back about being "better than the other platforms" and being so good at "picking out the flaws in canon," when sometimes you're actually making canon more racist. I think a lot of us, myself included, have some homework to do.