#cornchop

A Coen/Lambert relationship study, 275 words, rated G. Read it on Ao3.

Everyone always assumed they were fucking. It was the only reason they could think of why Coën put up with Lambert when he was in a rage. They’d look at his temper, his crude language, his complete lack of anything resembling tact, and nudge Coën conspiratorially. “But the sex is worth it, right?” Coën just shrugged. He had no interest in sex, but what he got up to with Lambert, or didn’t, was none of their fucking business.

People thought Lambert was a fire, and they couldn’t understand why Coën kept coming back to get burned. And sure, sometimes Lambert cast his rage at Coën like igni, and sometimes it hurt. But more often, Lambert’s rage was like a quen, including Coën in its protective circle. Lambert got angry at the things Coën had forgotten how to feel properly years ago. When he was with Lambert, he could be angry. He could rage at their fate, cry at what he’d lost. And feel more deeply because of it. Not just the anger, but hope, and love, and an appreciation of beauty that had been lost in a gray fog before Lambert blew up his world.

Coën had stared at the abyss of his pain and turned away into nothingness. Lambert had seen that same chasm and hurled fire into it. He felt everything, and showed Coën how to feel it too. And in turn, Coën took Lambert’s rage and showed him what it left behind. How to rebuild in the wake of the cleansing fire, to laugh and cry and love. They’d never be whole, but maybe together they could make a life with meaning.

A lot, actually. A person’s name is never only about their personal identity, it’s about their heritage too, and that goes at least twice for people who come from marginalised groups. I’ve seen Coën being referred to as Corn recently, and I can’t let that slip past me without saying anything. The name “Coën” is a marker of The Witcher’s slavic, Polish heritage. Polish people, especially Polish emigrants, of which there are many, have and continue to be the target of racial prejudice, the same way “People of Colour” do (I use quotation marks because that term in itself denotes a white anglo-centric view. The world is much more complex that the white anglo-centric view). This can look like anything from violent hate crimes, to micro-aggressions like the refusal to learn how to spell and pronounce peoples names. It’s disrespectful, it’s dehumanising, it’s hurtful (trust me, it happens to me constantly.)

I should not have to beg you to respect other peoples’ cultural identities. Use Coën’s name. Spell it right. Respect The Witcher’s cultural heritage. Respect Polish people. It’s not hard.