@un-eteinvincible And I Noticed How Leigh Bardugo Focuses Onsight When It Comes To Make Her Fictional

@un-eteinvincible​ and I noticed how Leigh Bardugo focuses on ‘sight’ when it comes to make her fictional couples express their feelings to each other, and it’s just too beautiful. It’s as if when a person sees you, they know you thoroughly and the meaning behind it does nothing but bring us to tears. 

Here are some examples. Beware there are some RoW spoilers, so skip the last screens if you haven’t read the book yet. 

Let’s start with Mal and Alina. I know the discourse around them is thick, but honestly Mal doesn’t deserve all the hate he gets. He’s just a 17 year old boy who is confused until he realizes that Alina is his ‘true north’, and it’s beautiful that he apologizes to her for taking so long to really see her.

In chapter 25 of Six of Crows, the one in which Inej climbs the incinerator shaft, there’s this flashback which tells us how she ended up working for Kaz and we have this beautiful line. Inej is so stealthy that she’s able to sneak up on everyone, except for Kaz because he always knows when she’s near. It’s even more heartbreakingly beautiful if you think about the fact that Inej’s wish was to never be invisible again: “She was not a lynx or a spider or even the Wraith. She was Inej Ghafa, and her future was waiting above.” We know well that to Kaz, Inej was never invisible.

Next who else is there if not our favorite Drusje and Drüskelle? For Nina and Matthias there are many examples that focus on ‘sight’, especially from Matthias’s pov. He knows he’s supposed to hate her, yet his eyes cannot help but always seeking Nina out, as Inej herself tells him. “So why do your eyes keep searching the crowd for her?”. This other passage is very meaningful as well, because we see Matthias thinking that he does see her.

Another beautiful example are Wylan and Jesper, which to me are really the epitome of a love that’s so pure that it can overcome any obstacle. When Genya tailors back Wylan, our favorite sharpshooter helps her. The merchling’s surprise is palpable and it’s very telling. Wylan has always felt like a burden, a waste of space, overlooked by his own father and yet Jesper really sees him for what he is, and therefore loves him for being himself. 

These last two passages are taken from Rule of Wolves so they contain spoilers. First we have the beautiful scene in which Genya and David exchange their wedding vows. We’ve been told many times in the trilogy that David is a person extremely focused on his work, and it appears that there’s nothing else that interests him except the Little Science. This changes when Genya enters the picture and it’s done so well that it’s even more sad if you think how their story ends. David sees his Genya in something that means a lot to him, the making at the heart of the world.

Lastly, we have Zoya and Nikolai. On these two entire essays could be written, so much so complex and multifaceted their relationship is. It brings me to tears that Zoya had always felt like she wasn’t enough, that no matter how powerful she was, that would not make others lover her. When she looses the only family who cared about her when the Darkling expands the Fold, she realizes how alone and lonely she is, how she had kept secret an important part of herself, of her heritage… until Nikolai enters the picture that is. He is the only one who is not afraid to look at her, and see her for what she is and love her despite her thorny exterior and this is just so beautiful. 

I hope you liked this post. I’m always taken aback by how Leigh Bardugo writes her characters. All the struggles they had to endure and eventually they overcome are what makes them special and relatable and I think it’s just so beautiful that all of them had found in another person that solace of being seen, because at the end of the day that’s what we all wish for, to be seen and therefore to be loved unconditionally. 

After the war, Rex does a lot of thinking about the entire thing, about how it was unnecessarily bloody, how it cost the lives of millions of innocents (Jedi and clones combined). He thinks about his brothers and their sacrifices, about how they’d thought they were made to protect the Jedi but were never meant to be anything more than their executioners.

Rex has many regrets. He knows there’s no use in dwelling on what could have been, but if there was one thing he could change, it would be that he listened to Fives the first time around, both during Umbara and in that decrepit warehouse.

Rex comes to the conclusion that Fives had always been smarter than him. He’d been the best of them all, willing to do whatever it took to save as many lives as he could.

Fives had indirectly saved Ahsoka and Rex and any other clone who got their chip out, but Fives himself had been killed for attempting to save others. No one had been able to save Fives.

It pains Rex to think that Fives will be forgotten over the course of time, that Fives would only ever be a speck in the entire course of history. Fives was a great man, possibly one of the greatest to ever live in Rex’s opinion, and great men deserve to be remembered. Rex knows he himself will also only ever be a speck on history, but he resolves to do what he can to make sure that this great man is remembered.

He writes down every detail he knows about Fives: from Domino Squad, to Rishi, to the 501st, to the promotion to ARC after the Battle of Kamino, to the Citadel and losing Echo, to his bravery on Umbara, and finally to Ringo Vinda and the discovery of the chips. Rex doesn’t know all the details of Fives’ private life, of course, but he writes what he observed.

He makes sure that whoever stumbles upon this will know that Fives was passionate, brave, kind, funny, loyal, and incredibly intelligent. Rex notes his penchant for impassioned speeches with a chuckle. He never understood how Fives came up with those on the spot, but he supposed the ARC had always been a natural leader. Fives had been a voice that his brothers had always rallied behind; Rex always admired him for it. He had always been sure of himself and his brothers, even at times where Rex couldn’t find that confidence in himself.

Rex keeps what he’s written about Fives with him at all times. He sends a copy of it to Echo one day, knowing that Fives’ twin will be glad to have it. The days on Seelos with Wolffe and Gregor become monotonous, and he catches each of them reading the memoir at some point. One has to pass the time somehow, anyways.

When Rex joins Ghost Crew, he regales them with tales of his brothers. He talks about Fives the most and practically begs them all to carry on his memory. He can see a piece of Fives in each of them, especially in the young Ezra Bridger.

On Endor, after the Empire has been defeated, Rex meets one Luke Skywalker. They mourn and remember Anakin Skywalker together, but later Luke begs him for stories about the Clone Wars. Rex cannot help but speak about Fives, and when he mentions the memoir, Luke asks if he can see it. Rex readily agrees, and decides to ask Luke a favor. Rex knows that his time is running short, and soon there will be no one left alive who knew Fives. He asks that Luke pass on the story of the greatest man Rex ever knew, and Luke easily agrees. Rex leaves his writings and the old holopic of himself, Cody, Fives, and Echo with Luke and passes on a few months later.

Luke tells his family of Rex and Fives. They all read the manuscript, awed by the stories held within. Young Ben Solo adores the escapades of Fives and wants to be just like him when he grows up. Luke decides that Leia can keep the manuscript and holopic so that she can read Ben stories from it while he’s younger, but it stays with her even after he’s joined Luke’s school. Besides, Ben has read the stories so many times that he no longer needs the words in front of him. He joins Luke in telling his peers of the greatest man to ever live and asks them all to carry on the memory as well.

Things don’t go quite as planned. Ben does not grow up to become like Fives, but instead becomes the very thing Fives had fought so hard to destroy. He forgets the stories and kills almost everyone who would remember them.

The manuscript and holopic, however, remain with Leia. She keeps them to herself, waiting for the right person to share the stories with. She finds that person in a deserter stormtrooper who doesn’t quite know how to find his place in a world he’d never set foot in before. She gives him the manuscript and holopic and asks him to carry on the memory of the person inside.

Finn, too, is amazed by Fives. He finds a kinship in him— clones and the stormtroopers of the First Order are not all that different, it seems. He resolves to pour the same passion that Fives had into his own work with the Resistance. Without realizing it, he even picks up Fives’ tendency for passionate speeches, which amuses Leia to no end.

Finn spreads Fives’ story to his friends and many other members of the Resistance. The phrase “same heart, same blood” takes root in its members, inspiring them all to fight against tyranny.

One day, a wayward clone trooper finds his way into the Resistance. To say he is shocked to hear his dead brother’s name spoken with such reverence is an understatement, but soon he gets the story out of Finn. Kix nearly breaks down into tears, never imagining that one of his brother’s legacies could’ve lasted this long.

Eventually, the First Order is defeated, and the galaxy can finally rest. The Resistance puts up statues of its heroes from both the original Rebellion and the new one. One, however, stands out from the rest. It is of a clone trooper.

The statue of Fives stands tall and proud in the center of Coruscant. The holopic had been useful in capturing his likeness, as had directions from Kix. Fives stands with his helmet tucked underneath his left arm, his right arm held up in a salute. There is a relaxed smile upon his face, one that reassures anyone who gazes upon it.

Underneath it is a plaque that reads:

“Fives

Not Just Another Number

But A Great Man”

—————

I got emotional about how no one would remember Fives and this is what happened. I have zero (0) regrets and I hope you enjoyed this! At first I was just gonna write an analysis but I thought this would be better expressed through a fic. I wrote it all on tumblr and I’ll post it on Ao3 sometime but it’ll be a bit. I know the ending sounds like that quote from Captain America but it’s what fit haha, it’s not intended to be a reference to that at all. Thanks for reading!

Based off @imrowanartist amazing fanfic These Silver Linings on Ao3

It was such a beautiful little story that I just had to draw it. Seriously, you all should go read the whole thing. They do such an amazing job with capturing Tech and Omega's personalities and really helps add more depth to their relationship!

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