#pizzleyanking

while it is a very good and interesting topic i avoided talking about how their personal understanding of class changes because we’d be here all day 😵‍💫 also things mentioned in one section doesn't mean they're not present in others (it is just where it stands out the most to me)

rattay circumstances weirdly bring them together; they’re paired off in the first place as punishment to them both for failing to to behave in line with their station (a lot has already been said about how meaningful that tavern fistfight was — and hopefully everyone knows that you get rep boost with hans when you DON’T appease him in kcd1). there’s some boundary pushing between them but they talk about it like a joke. it never occurs to them to remark on this supposedly improper relationship except in retrospect, off-handedly, after they learn henry’s parentage.

rattay is also funny because familiarity makes some of the lines fuzzy: henry’s class status is maybe the most ambiguous in rattay. he’s officially a nobody but benefits from nepotism because the local lords care about radzig (his relation to radzig serves him less once we leave rattay — istvan at least entertains the possibility of ransom for henry, the same can’t be said in kuttenberg). henry’s class ambiguity is exploited pretty thoroughly. meanwhile hans is powerful but irrelevant, not taken seriously because of his reputation.

trosky stripped of noble furnishings the world suddenly treats them as equals yet they end up spending most of their time apart of their own volition; despite their resonance they still have a fight that’s partially flamed by how their respective upbringings shaped their anxieties and perception of their circumstances, what happened and how to proceed (to say nothing of how difficult it is to talk maturely in the traumatic aftermath of an ambush they barely survived, hans in particular is compromised by humiliation and panic).

class has an influence in why, with the exception of one quest, they aren’t crossing paths before the wedding. hans poaches in isolation not just because he can’t conceptualize the risk but because he has his upbringing to thank for his excellent marksmanship . his isolation is interesting because hans talks as if he believes in an inherent ‘nobleness’ that people would recognize were he to defend his poaching, or it’s something people would notice and remember if they saw him carrying sacks (he is unaware that people don’t watch peasants that closely as mercurial lords) — but if that was the case, why not take advantage of it in town? him isolating himself is a sort of an unconscious admission that the distinction is arbitrary, enforced by perception (and violence). some of his manners could not be tolerated because people will think he’s a commoner. nobility as something both real (upbringing obviously shaped him) and fake (literally no such thing as blue blood, you're no different than anyone else). (but also: hans isolating because of shame of fucking up his ONE official task so supremely) (but i’ve talked enough about trosky!)

kuttenberg now that they’re the closest and least formal they’ve ever been the class distinction suddenly becomes tragically relevant. henry’s relation to radzig matters little and hans’s own well-developed martial skills weigh less than his ransom. they almost seem surprised, offended by this external force, which is strong enough for henry to admit he’s upset that they haven’t spent enough time together (to which hans blames the circumstances). henry’s fluctuating job titles are frequently and awkwardly invoked to describe, justify his closeness to hans and wanting to rescue him.