my gripe with headcanons of zebani halovar as like the unfairly or misogynistically passed over heir apparent to wick (and like genuinely no shade to people who think that way, it's all speculation and opinion after all) is that i thought in the brief screentime brennan gave her, it was kinda obvious she got passed over for being an asshole. like, she lacks the charisma to actually pull followers. she could not do the job expected of wick. she wasn't cast aside, she was let into the family's larger secret machinations, just not allowed to be the face of it and yanessa said pretty bluntly it was because she's unpleasant. sure, yanessa is likely misogynistic (her treatment of wick's mom indicates such), but it seemed rather clear why she chose wick for the role he is meant to fulfill. like...a woman runs the church now, it's certainly not gender locked. so there's a chance if zebani had the right combination of ability, charisma and earnestness she would've been a perfectly fine scion.
treating zebani like she's just a victim of the church who was unfairly maligned and not someone who didn't have the charisma to manipulate the masses the way that wick does is diminishing the more interesting elements of her character and wick's. wick is capable of things she's not. she is capable of things wick is not. she's likely more akin to her uncle and grandmother than wick ever will be.
the "more worthy elder sister passed over because of gender" has been done time and time again. zebani being given a different role in the church because she's kind of a dick who wouldn't cut it as scion has way more layers of interest to it. she's a willing participant in this system, not sadly waiting around wondering why she didn't get picked over her brothers.
there's a reason her aspirant is cruelty.
