#tjadaka

(I couldn’t help myself with the gif, I love him ;;;____;;;) In the absence of writing or more accurately writing for the *one* thing. I’ve been contending a lot with questions on dynamic. How I want Erik and T’Challa to come together, how they might function in the early, middle or late stages of a relationship. Here are some of my ideas:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14590866/chapters/33719817

Every Killchalla fans out there read that fic!

It’s a very sweet AU with a sad and developped alternate backstory for T’Challa and Erik which results in both of them living and growing up in Oakland. Erik still leave for the military, and after ten years away from Oakland - and T’Challa, he comes home, with a plan to bring T’Challa back to Wakanda. 

“ If Erik tried to write what he holds in his heart for T'Challa, it would take him forever and countless books. He's not even a poet. Instead, he's gonna bring T'Challa home, no matter what it takes. “

It’s a very well written fic, witty and cute and promises more seriousness as it goes on, with a lot of sexual tension and emotions between our two favorite Wakandans. 

As an introduction we thought it would be a good idea to talk about our perspective as shippers and dive right back to why we got into the ship.

When I first watched the movie, I really liked their dynamic, both platonically or romantically, I wanted to see more of them, more of them interacting and continuing to ‘deal with each other’. My heart broke when Erik died, and I hoped he wouldn’t be only a one movie villain, he had so much potential, so much to give the story. And he had power over T’Challa that nobody else had. I’m also often drawn towards antagonistic ships, enemies to friends to lovers is one of my favorite trope, because there is often more that prevents them from being together than the typical miscommunication trope in flufflier ships, they have actual barriers to overcome, and the chemistry, or sexual tension, between two rivals is often fire. The situation of both Erik and T’Challa is also a particular one, their familial relation, royal status and different political ideologies is a fertile ground for exploration of subjects and themes as well as all sorts of interaction*, and rich array of interpretation of their dynamics.  

I like exploring characters with different ideologies clashing with each other. T’Challa and N’Jadaka affected each other so much in the movie. T’Challa is so empathetic that he was able to feel for N’Jakada, even after everything he’s done, and because of that N’Jadaka managed to reach him and change him. The power they have over each other, the balance that they can create, they can embodied the balance of complementary people who take on the other’s strength and compensate their weakness, who make each other grow. This is one of my favorite kind of pairing. It’s a difficult ship to write well, thus the bigger appeal, since the characters need a lot of character study and evolution for it to work. This ship has a lot of potential, it has potential to do long, angsty fics, and there are many possible “what if” scenarios the movie offered us.

I also continue to translate the dynamic they have in the movie, or would have, into a relationship. The struggle for power, the N’Jadaka who’s on the offense and full of anger, obsessed over T’Challa. T’Challa’s calmness and understanding can be soothing and reassuring, but T’Challa still has his own moments of weakness and does not always live up to his ideal of a good King, N’Jadaka is one of the people who can get to him this way. N’Jadaka can get under his skin and make him do some rash decisions on the spur of the moment. I think N’Jadaka would need the calmness and understanding, I think he felt alone in his crusade for most of his life and would desperately need someone to get him out of this isolation and find a good way to channel his emotions. He would also be able to change T’Challa change even more towards an ideal that he would champion.

N’Jadaka changed T’Challa in a day, imagine what he could do if he’d staying longer?

There’s possibility for a lot of character development for both and working off of each other. They are equals and complete each other. They both have difficulty resisting the influence of the other on their life, as much as they’d try to resist it. And their rivalry could do for some passionate sex!

Also the cousin “taboo” made it even more fun.

I got into fandom pretty young. I was immediately attracted to same sex pairings and the possibilities available to readers and writers alike. However I quickly realized characters who look like me or shared similar experiences were few and far in between. At the time young as I was it didn’t really bother me but as got I older it really did.

The 2018 Black Panther movie meant alot to me, I read the comics before and after the movie and I was drawn into a world that asked me to imagine a country and a people beyond colonization and western imperialism. An african nation with ancient traditions and egalitarian ideals that even countries who claim to be ‘modern’ couldn’t meet.  

In theaters I fell in love with the characters and the story and the conflicting ideals and I felt real motivation to write. So I did. Now months after the movie and the buzz and the accolades I want to encourage shippers and readers alike to continue creating and discussing and interacting with the movie and the comics and the characters.

I remember before the movie it seemed like everyone was shipping T’Challa and Erik and then the movie came out and everyone jumped ship. It was really heartbreaking to me because personally the movie only made me ship them more. T’Challa and Erik represent so much to me as Nigerian American and I love having not one but two black/african characters involved both platonically or romantically.

I see so much potential in their interactions, in Alternate Universe, in canon divergence and especially post canon. The conversations these two could have, the exchange and dialogue of what to me could be compared  the diaspora to estranged parents really appeals to me.

To be clear we’re not here to debate morality, It is an individual's responsibility to curate their own online experience. (Block/don't interact if content offends or squicks you) This is meant to be a safe and positive space to discuss these two characters, dig into meta and analysis as well as host or feature events.