Purple

I know it, because fandom can take sand and turn it into glass. Turn rocks into diamonds. When they want to, they build character backgrounds and thread the connection between characters gently and carefully until it gleams and glows.

I know there are ways that don't even have to come from Nora as canon, even in fanon it could be done and it could be done WELL because I've seen it happen with villains and characters like Seth that are dead in canon.

There's a significant difference between intending cruelty and landing cruelly — and fandom knows this distinction intimately, because it applies it constantly to characters and ships it likes. And that's just not Thea or Kevthea.

I'm not asking anyone to love Thea or ship KevThea. Ship what you want, choose your favourite dolls and play with them in your own preferred way. But "there is no way to spin this into something good" is just not true.

My point was specifically about saying that it is not possible to make good out of KevThea, but it is possible. Not everyone wants to look, not everyone cares, not everyone is interested to do it. And that's perfectly fine and perfectly acceptable. But it can be done or it could be done, in canon and in fanon, with enough care. Fandom has worked from worse.

I know it, because fandom can take sand and turn it into glass. Turn rocks into diamonds. When they want to, they build character backgrounds and thread the connection between characters gently and carefully until it gleams and glows.

I know there are ways that don't even have to come from Nora as canon, even in fanon it could be done and it could be done WELL because I've seen it happen with villains and characters like Seth that are dead in canon.

There's a significant difference between intending cruelty and landing cruelly — and fandom knows this distinction intimately, because it applies it constantly to characters and ships it likes. And that's just not Thea or Kevthea.

I'm not asking anyone to love Thea or ship KevThea. Ship what you want, choose your favourite dolls and play with them in your own preferred way. But "there is no way to spin this into something good" is just not true.

I know it, because fandom can take sand and turn it into glass. Turn rocks into diamonds. When they want to, they build character backgrounds and thread the connection between characters gently and carefully until it gleams and glows.

I know there are ways that don't even have to come from Nora as canon, even in fanon it could be done and it could be done WELL because I've seen it happen with villains and characters like Seth that are dead in canon.

There's a significant difference between intending cruelty and landing cruelly — and fandom knows this distinction intimately, because it applies it constantly to characters and ships it likes. And that's just not Thea or Kevthea.

I'm not asking anyone to love Thea or ship KevThea. Ship what you want, choose your favourite dolls and play with them in your own preferred way. But "there is no way to spin this into something good" is just not true.

Hi there,

So I’ve spoken a few times on racism in AFTG. Particularly about the Moriyamas & Nicky, but I’ll specifically touch on racism & Thea here. I have a few other questions on Thea as well that I need to answer about my thoughts on her character, Kevin/Thea and her friendship with Jean, so I won’t really touch on those in this question - I’ll specifically be addressing (a) the racism of Thea’s character within the text of AFTG and (b) the racism she experiences within the Fandom.

First, on the racism with the text of AFTG: as I’ve mentioned before, it is considered racist to ONLY point out a character’s race when they are not white. It very much perpetuates whiteness as the default and PoC as the “other.” Moreover, the way that Thea was introduced in TKM compared to how the canonically white female characters (Allison, Renee and yes Dan b/c Nora initially envisioned Dan as white) were introduced was… not great. Thea's descriptions of her "thick legs" "chiseled arms" and "unmoving tank" [think of how many conservative newspapers in America describe Michelle Obama - it's considered racist & dehumanizing. Black women are often denied femininity & womanhood].

Nora is obviously trying harder in TSC & TGR to make her writing less racist, racially inclusive & address racism - moreover she herself has also noted how the backlash to Thea is rooted in racism. [Also I know sometimes some of y’all do this to be funny: but deliberately fucking up the surname ‘Muldani’ and treating an ethnic surname like it’s Strange or Stupid just b/c you don’t like the character attached to the surname is, in fact, racist]. People with obviously ethnic surnames in Western countries do in fact get discriminated against on the basis of their name sounding "Stupid" to white people.

I’ll also say a lot of people in the AFTG Fandom get defensive about AFTG being called racist or when the AFTG Fandom is called out as racist - I’ve seen many, many posts saying that the way Nora wrote the Moriyamas wasn’t racist towards Japanese people (it most certainly was) & that the Fandom not liking Thea has “nothing” to do with racism or misogynoir, to which I say: sometimes the things you love are racist. Sometimes you are unintentionally perpetuating racism EVEN when you do not mean to be. Racism is often rooted in implicit bias & a lot of racism has been normalized.

Which brings me to: racism in the AFTG Fandom. We'll start with: asking, begging, harassing, and especially THREATENING Nora to remove Thea from future novels such as The Broken Cage, The Perfect, Court, or the Queen’s Game. The fact that Nora apologized on Twitter for Thea being in Jean’s first two novels.

The people who made these (occasionally threatening and violent demands) may VIEW themselves differently than the people who demanded Disney remove Finn from the Star Wars sequels, or the people who were pissed off when Rue from Hunger Games was a Black girl. Because in their mind it’s not that Thea is Black that is the problem: they just don’t like her character! They don’t like her with Kevin! Whatever the reason the end result in the same: you want the only CONFIRMED Black woman from AFTG written out of the novels. Some of you wanted her killed off. Condemned by the narrative & everyone around her. And b/c media does not exist in a vacuum: writing Thea off/killing Thea off would just be ANOTHER Black character removed from a franchise because that’s what the fans demanded. It doesn’t matter the reasoning, that is the end result. You can blame Nora for “writing Thea poorly” but the thing is: instead of trying to find a work-around, a way for Nora to retcon Thea, the first response was just to want Thea gone or dead. Demanding Black characters be removed from media because you “don’t like them” and you don’t want to deal with them or have them date your white boy fav is a TREND in media. Congratulations, your racism isn't even unique.

I think it’s also hypocritical that some people claim to be “anti-censorship” when it comes to complaining that people write posts about not shipping their favourite ship or when it comes to writing porn on AO3 but think it’s perfectly reasonable to… threaten an author to not include one of her own characters in her own novels because you personally do not like Thea. Or to beg for Thea not to be included.

Onto my second complaint about racism in regard to Thea.

Andrew strangled Kevin. Andrew sliced Kevin with a knife when Kevin shoved him into a locker. Andrew threatened Kevin with a knife to go on Neil’s vacation. Kevin/Andrew & Kevin/Andrew/Neil are still EXTREMELY popular pairings. There are still people hoping that Nora will change her mind about Kevin/Andrew/Neil and make them Canon in TQG. Nora had said multiple times that Andrew DOES NOT and WILL NOT feel any guilt or remorse about strangling Kevin. But apparently Kevin/Andrew/Neil is still fine to ship. “Nora can change her mind! She can write Andrew feeling remorse and apologizing to Kevin and they’ll talk it out and everything will be okay and then Kevin can date him!”

Okay.

Why can’t Thea be changed? Why does Andrew get to change and “grow” and “be better” (become the character you want him to be so you can comfortably ship him with Kevin and claim Andrew is “so much healthier for Kevin”) And Thea is doomed to always being terrible? EVEN THOUGH she has never canonically hit Kevin. There is absolutely NO canonical evidence that she ever hit Kevin or would hit Kevin. But there is so much meta/Fic about Thea being physically abusive. Why is that? I genuinely think some people need to reflect on what societal stereotypes about Black woman exist that make it so easy for them to imagine a Black woman being scary & physically abusive despite no evidence of this in Canon (and no her being 'mean' does not count as evidence of being physically abusive). Moreover, why is Andrew - a white boy - still so easily shipped with Kevin despite ACTUALLY being the one to physically harm him & despite the fact that Nora said he will never feel remorse for this?

Instead of asking Nora or hoping for Nora to fix Thea’s character, to make Thea good representation of a complex, nuanced Black female character, people just want her gone. “Kevin deserves to heal!” “Jean deserves to heal!” "Andrew deserves to heal.” All the white boys deserve to heal. Kevin & Jean get to unlearn the Raven mentality & recover from being brainwashed and being in a cult. Thea? Oh. it’s TOO late for her. She’s already BAD and she’s going to remain BAD (even though the books that would have the most Thea haven’t even been written yet). “Thea already had years outside of the Nest and she’s still as Raven as ever!!” or “Thea CHOSE to be a Raven! It’s not the same with Kevin & Jean.”

Like, y’all… Thea isn’t fucking real. She’s a character that can be adjusted as Nora writes her, especially b/c she’s BARELY been in the books. She can have her own tragic back story written in to explain why she signed with the Ravens & how she got brainwashed & what she’s trying to unlearn.

Why can’t we ask Nora to change Thea’s Raven mentality - as she’s changing Jean’s? (I would also argue that Kevin still has a bit of his Raven mentality, but Kevin’s rough edges get to be smoothed over while Thea’s are amplified). Why can’t we ask/hope for a narrative where Thea - the only Black woman in AFTG, who has experienced racism and sexism in her Exy career - gets to realize how toxic the Ravens were? To her and those around her. Why can’t she grow and heal & make amends in The Queen’s Game? Why is she permanently stuck as “bad” and “always a Raven.” Why is it too late for her in a series that goes on about first, second, third, fourth chances? Why does SETH get to become popular in Fanon with this idea that “if he lived he would of had a redemption arc” and somehow gets to be a popular Fanon character who is Bi & sorry for his previous homophobia & is sometimes even shipped with Kevin and Thea is irredeemable?

“Nora already wrote her and Kevin having sex in front of Riko!! It’s toxic.” That was in the EC, which Nora still has an opportunity to change in the books. It already seems as if she’s trying to change the age gap and made sure Kevin was 18 and in university by the time him and Thea were actually regularly speaking to one another & Kevin developed his crush & Thea reciprocated. Nora has already retconned some of the EC - why is it that some of you are so eager to dismiss EC that’s about how Kevin only occasionally visits Neil & Andrew and they only call/text once-in-awhile & Andrew/Neil never married or say I love you, but are willing to cling to Thea’s EC like it’s etched into stone. I think as long as Kevin & Thea have minimal to no contact prior to Kevin being 18 and in university - the age gap of 18/22 is fine. [Moreover, why are people so reluctant to talk about the power Kevin had in the Raven hierarchy? Yes, he was treated as inferior to Riko but he was also considered superior to literally EVERY OTHER Raven].

And speaking of age gaps… I’ve mentioned before that Thea was IMMEDIATELY hated on for “grooming Kevin” and “she started grooming Kevin at 14!!” and yes TRK did make it seem a bit dodgy when Neil thought about how “Kevin would have known Thea her entire Raven career” but Nora has since taken steps to fix that by emphasizing the fact that Kevin/Thea ONLY started really interacting when Kevin was 18 and a first year uni student & Thea was 22. I’ve also read a lot of Fic that writes Thea out b/c of her “inappropriate age gap with Kevin” while still including & loving… you guessed it! Roland.

Why does Roland get to be the funny white boy bartender who is still included in every Fic? He was 23 & Andrew was 17 and in high school (and never sober) when they hooked up. But very few people critique Roland. Or refuse to include him in their Fics. But Thea is IMMEDIATELY banished.

I’m not saying people have to write Fic about Thea. Or meta about Thea. Or like Thea. I do think people shouldn’t harass Nora NOT to include Thea b/c regardless of the reasons that you PERSONALLY have for not liking Thea, demanding she be removed from future novels/that Nora doesn’t DARE make her and Kevin endgame perpetuates a very racist and common occurrence within Fandoms.

For these and other reasons. I don't think Kevin should end up with an exy player. In the extra content Nora mentions how he doesn't talk about history with the monsters anymore. What if he joined a history club and met someone? Someone who doesn't see him as the Son of Exy, Queen of the Court, just Kevin, who likes history and classical music and wants to learn the piano.

Week 2 - Jeremy.