"My one and only friend."

I was bored on a plane ride and started thinking about my latest fic (edit: second-latest, where does the time go) (edit edit: third-latest, is this a record?) upon which I realized how strange it is that Kvare/Kiya is the only het ship I have that is Dominant male/submissive female (yes, even in Juliet/Tybalt, Tybalt is the sub to the thirteen year old, because cmon just look what a pathetic bitch boy he is around/about her.) Warning for SP Inanna bashing (I really laid into her more than I thought I would when making this post) so if you like her don’t read.

I started thinking about it more, and I think the reason I like it, and that I like Kiya, so much when they aren’t my type on the surface, is that…typically, a submissive female character is written as it being how they are, and Kiya is written more as how she chooses to be. Pulling SP Inanna as an example (because how could I not) the writing neuters her from her pre-SP self and forces her to play nice with everyone, even when they deserve harsher treatment (except with Lutfi, because fuck Lutfi I guess ToT) and even though she waves a sword around now she feels…passive. ‘Submissive’ might not sound like the right word for her, springing to mind as a sex thing, but she comes across as an ordinary anime girl GF to the Leader, and with that comes along the ordinary anime girl GF tropes, including submissiveness, and ordinary anime girl GF fans, which want her to be submissive (no, stabbing people with her little sword doesn’t count as “not submissive” the same way it doesn’t count as “strong character.”) To tie it all back, she’s passive with everyone, and even for Leader specifically, it feels like she’s written so that her personality as it already is (well, for her SP form, anyway) is the attractive point, without any conscious effort from her. It feels like her submissiveness is for others’ sake instead of her own, is what I’ve realized is my point. ^_^;

Kiya, on the other hand, comes across to me differently. Her submissiveness feels like a choice, something she consciously does for her own sake. Her goals aren’t the nebulous “peace and harmony” that it feels like half the cast desires—they’re vengeance and to keep Kvare and Safiyyah safe no matter the cost. Unlike SP Inanna and Leader’s goals being the exact same, furthering her passiveness towards him, Kiya, Kvare, and Safiyyah all have different goals that mix with each other. Safiyyah is different enough to not need explanation, but Kvare’s end goal is to establish a power bloc in Iria capable of threatening the throne, and Kiya’s goals really have nothing to do with that. Initially, she only desires vengeance, which Kvare offers her by training her as an assassin. Kvare earns her respect, as well as becomes the subject of her second goal, by both treating her as human as well as feeding this goal of hers (obviously his motives are completely selfish, because he’s Kvare, but that’s just the drama of it, no?) whereas Leader and SP Inanna might as well as have come out of the womb liking each other. Because she chooses to respect Kvare (and Safiyyah) it feels like her submission to them is also chosen, not simply thrust upon her by the writers to fulfill their desires. Which, yes, I manifest as a sex thing. Because why not.

I ragged on SP Inanna a lot in this post because she’s an example from this fandom and, let’s be honest, she’s an easy target, but if you’ve consumed absolutely any piece of media ever you can probably think of plenty of female characters that fit my definition of submissive-for-others’-sake. Hell, if you’re weebish enough, you can probably think of other submissive catgirl maids that you’d think I’d like as a Kiya fan, but I actually wouldn’t care about at all. Maybe this subtle difference is why Kiya isn’t very popular in the fandom (at least from what I’ve seen) despite one thinking that a submissive catgirl maid should be blood in the water for the surface dwellers here.

In a way, I suppose this kind of difference also mirrors how real-life submissives are seen in pop culture vs in actual kink spaces. I’m not as well-versed in this as I am in catgirl maids (big shocker) so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I feel like the wider world sees subs as always submissive in personality, and to everyone; a wallflower of sorts. Meanwhile, even 24/7 subs choose that lifestyle, are submissive to only the people that, again, they choose, and of course, can choose to stop any time, for any reason. Oh, if only fictional characters could choose to just quit if their writers started fucking up X) what a world that would be.

This was more of a ramble than an analysis, as my posts tend to be. There’s a reason I’m not an essayist despite being halfway decent at writing (*ahem* there’s also a reason I’ve been considering an ADHD diagnosis…>_>;;;) I…I just wanted to write meta like the cool kids, okay?! *sobs* Have mercy…

I would say with SP Inanna, she's not written to be a submissive character in the game's text proper, but ends up that way as a result of the writing intention. She's supposed to be the "stronger" Inanna that takes charge of her own fate and finally does what she wants to do, but it just so happens that what she wants to do lines up exactly with what the player is assumed to want, and no further. So you end up with a defanged Inanna that may be more powerful and capable on paper but is far less assertive than the Inanna of KA or Papal route.

Instead of cursing Dantalion out for his treatment of the Vlder she instead goes "teehee that's just how my brother is :) but it's okay because I'll fix everything uwu". Instead of being horrified or disgusted that Caris tried to nuke the Mine Pit, she laughs it off because Caris was sowwy and a literal act of God stopped anything bad from happening. (<- so like with the FJ18 lore reveals is this gonna be elaborated on further in Papal Arc? inquiring minds want to know.) Meanwhile, OG Inanna:

It's also noteworthy that in Papal Route, Inanna steps up to take the throne as a culmination of her character growth, her desire to protect her people from the Darklight overcoming her doubt and passivity. It is a choice she makes, because she wants to protect Iria from the Papal States, instead of FTWOP handing Inanna the kingship because she's such a special girl uwu.

Inanna SP is restrained in a way that the original Inanna isn't: she cannot do anything the writers think will make the players unhappy. Can't tell Dantalion a racist asshole, even if it makes sense for her character because the perfect heroine can't do that (and Dantalion's fanboys will be mad)!!! Can't be angry with Caris because a perfect savior of Iria can't show any negative emotions!!! This makes her feel really off because she's generically heroic and inspiring all the time without displaying a wider range of emotions. Yay peace yay unity 24/7. Something something toxic positivity. She's more like a plot device to fulfill the player's assumed desires instead of a character that lives in and interacts with her world. "Freedom Warrior" my ass when she's trapped in a prison of player expectation. But sure she's more "badass" because she kills the bad guy with a sword or whatever. Aren't you tired of being nice?????????? don't you want to go ape shitttttttttt???????????

I would say that Kiya's FJ chapter shakes up your analysis a little. In it, she initially goes along with being Kvare's assassin because he promises her power and revenge and it keeps her close to him so that she can kill him also one day. When that day comes, she doesn't do it. Revenge never made her happy and she realized that if she kills Kvare, she'll have nothing else to live for.

In the past, I kept telling myself to never forget my hatred and remember that I live for revenge. But is the feeling I get each time I exact my revenge the feeling of being alive?

Why didn't you do it? What were you thinking? I... I was thinking about what I really wanted. You told me you're still alive because you haven't killed all your enemies yet. That's not really living.

Kvare sets her "free" and from then on, she serves him "voluntarily". Even though she knows Kvare's kindness is false, a tool to string her along as his pawn, it is still better treatment than she gets from anyone else (aside from Safiyyah). She doesn't know any other way to live than what Kvare taught her. The world became a cage Kvare built for her. In that way, his control over her goes beyond any surface level manipulation. She could never be free of him. The tragedy of Kiya's character is that she never could be free to live how she truly wanted, and that her agency and will were twisted to align with whatever Kvare wanted. Sound familiar?