lavendercrows

kaz, inej, jesper and wylan are victims of capitalism

the negative effects of capitalism is a major theme in the soc duology.

kaz was scammed by a rich asshole that saw fit to rob children, leading to a bout of poverty and homelessness that killed his brother and sent him into a life of crime, in a bid to get some control over the system that screwed him over

inej was seen as an object when trafficked by the slavers, something they could take and sell for their own gain. then, by kaz, she’s called an investment. but she eventually takes back her own identity (”she was inej ghafa and her future was waiting above”) and does what she wants with her life, free from the system that used her 

jesper is what kaz would describe as a pigeon. granted, he’s a very smart pigeon that would shoot me to death without a second thought, but the fact of the matter is that he was taken in by the allure of the casinos when arriving in ketterdam, fell into debt, formed an addiction, and had to start living a life of crime to ensure his debts didn’t reach his father

wylan is the son of a wealthy man who saw him as useless when he couldn’t fit society’s expectations. he was so ashamed that his son wasn’t going to be a typical ‘productive member of society’ that he cast him out and tried to KILL him, not only to get rid of him, but to save his own reputation

all of these people are screwed over by the system of capitalism in different ways, and they come together to get their own back

...and then there’s nina and matthias.

sure, nina had to work her ass off in a dangerous city to save matthias, but that was her own choice.

what really separates these two from the others is that they’re victims of war

(yes capitalism leads to war in a lot of cases but let’s not get too complicated)

nina is an orphan, and because of her talents, had to become a soldier

matthias’ family was killed, and he had to become a soldier too

their countries hated each other, and so they had to hate each other. even when, against the odds, they started to fall in love, they couldn’t be together because ravka would’ve had matthias killed, so she had to get him arrested to save him.

when everything seems fine at the end, and they think they can finally be together, what gets matthias? not a scam or some rich asshole like van eck, but another druskelle that killed him for defecting.

like i said, i think they work well in the story and it’d be incomplete without my favourite witch and witch hunter. but, thinking about the rest of the grishaverse (the shadow and bone trilogy and king of scars duology), the six of crows duology is the odd man out in that its story doesn’t centre on a grand war.