everyone I just need a moment to like. sit down and appreciate the world we got with Red Queen because it’s pretty fucking amazing.
- cameron cole, fifteen years old and terrified, but stands up for her own beliefs and doesn’t shut up no matter who tells her to. liberates her people! has a great relationship with her brother! has a happy ending and a complete character arc!
- prince bracken, silver king, secondary villain, but NUANCED, cares about his children like a good father should
- carmadon. fucking gay. sense of humor is amazing. sense of style is amazing. excellent gardener and chef and does not hesitate to call evangeline on her bullshit.
- wren skonos. can literally regrow hands. probably has saved everyone’s ass at one point or another. joined the montfort medics and is the breadwinner for her family (ptolemus, you lazy bum). awesome, i love her.
- mare. fucking. barrow. is CANONICALLY latina or brown. ladies and gentlethem we have FINALLY gotten a popular book series about overthrowing oppressive systems and the main character isn’t white i adore this.
- rafe!! electricon badass that sticks by his friends and is a really good fighter! god i adore him
- ada wallace has golden skin in canon so i think she’s latina, personally. (evidence: gisa barrow is also described as having golden skin and she’s latina.) and ada is also canonically one of THE kindest characters, and in glass sword she was integral to mare’s cause. incredibly intelligent and later goes on to represent the ENTIRE nortan states in government and at international coalition meetings. go her.
- actually i’ve blanked please reblog with more i’m sure there were more
- evangeline samos what a fucking queen. i can’t believe we got an asian character who wasn’t defined by introversion and math skills in ya lit. can’t BELIEVE it. the strict parents are still there, but that’s a universal experience if i’m completely honest. but evangeline gets a happy ending with a loving support group! cut off all the toxicity from her life we stan one (1) queen.
- ptolemus!! i actually love that he and evangeline are characterized as warriors. honestly ptolemus might even classify as a Brute (temper control 0, able-to-kill-you 100, shoulder width 500, has a soft spot). i never NEVER see this for east asian male characters, so this is incredibly important.
on top of that, tolly is also a stay at home husband, which is something you hardly ever see either. especially with a character that’s been introduced as a warrior-type and was literally the king of an entire nation.
- all of house viper, by extension. an entire noble house of east asian descent!! i adore it.
- DANE FUCKING DAVIDSON IS CANONICALLY EAST ASIAN. VAVEYARD CONFIRMED IT. the LEADER of an ENTIRE COUNTRY who is INCREDIBLE and basically spearheaded a movement for red equality across the ENTIRE CONTINENT and is in a loving relationship with his unproblematic husband.
BROWN/FIRST NATION CHARACTERS
- iris cygnet. orrec cygnet. cenra and tiora. we have canadian FIRST NATION PEOPLE as rulers of an INCREDIBLY powerful country. iris can hold her own against maven. she and her mother basically reversed the flow of the entire archeon river. she practically flooded an entire city until it was nothing but rubble.
and even though they’re villains, they’re shown to care for one another deeply. again, more nuance in poc characters. fuck yeah.
- house iral. another royal house of poc! and they’re a POWERFUL house, too. the best spies in all of norta are iral. tiberias v’s prince consort was an iral. the head of their house was literally nicknamed the fucking PANTHER that’s how good they were.
- lyrisa from broken throne (skin like cold copper). badass strongarm piedmont princess. unapologetic about her past, willing to do what it takes to save herself, but she still cares for other people. again, i LOVE that we have poc characters in positions of power. also, lyri is a great example of what to do with a stalker ex: physically rip his head off his shoulders.
- gisa barrow. her relationship with a montfort shopgirl is brought up totally casually, with complete acceptance. that is SO important to me, that in red queen some of our gay characters can just... exist. gisa doesn’t have to fight for acceptance or love, and that’s such an important example of how the lgbt community should be treated in real life.
- davidson and carmadon. fuck. tell me they literally aren’t parent gays to evangeline and elane. that scene where davidson introduces them all to his husband, and evangeline practically cries because she realizes she can love openly?? i can’t even articulate how important that is to me.
- evangeline and elane. let’s get one thing straight right here. if evangeline wasn’t willing to go to such huge lengths for her girlfriend, i don’t know what state norta would be in. eve shoved marecal back together to be with elane, and we owe her big for that one. also, if she’d married cal, a union of norta and the rift might’ve been too big for red revolution to take hold in. thank god, evangeline.
(however it would have been nice if elane had more of a personality in war storm. that was a flaw that struck me.)
- how could I forget about maven calore? this one is a little more in the gray zone. first, i do appreciate that maven is bi/pan. second, while it would be problematic if maven were the ONLY gay character and his relationship with thomas was the Tragic Backstory, that is not the case. we have an entire cast of lgbt protagonists in healthy relationships. I personally think that maven shows that lgbtq representation can have nuance and villains and still be done well.
- gay royalty: tiberias v took a prince consort. leonora calore took a queen consort, mariane nolle (broken throne). thank you victoria for giving us a HISTORY of lgbt figures in this universe.
long post, but how else could I properly appreciate well-written diversity in YA lit?? god bless victoria aveyard for existing. i would die for her, no cap. reblog with more if you can think of them!
