Sure She May Have Taken It Further Than Anyone Else - Tumblr Posts

Interesting take, you may have swayed me. Truthfully, I’ve never really cared for Zarina as a character much (unpopular opinion, I know) so while I’ve of course thought of some headcanons for her I’ve never given her as much thought as you clearly have.

noactofcharitygoesunresented:

I personally always felt that perhaps when Zarina left Pixie Hollow feeling so lost and broken, meeting James, who was charming and appreciative (because he knew he could use her) was like a breath of fresh air; for the first time, someone encouraged her passion, someone understood her, someone listened to her… perhaps she did develop a little crush on him. James, being the evil bastard he is, of course didn’t reciprocate, but he played that part because he wanted her to entrust him with her deepest secrets, and he played it well. I mean, obviously it wasn’t Zarina’s idea to grow a new pixie dust tree to produce enough pixie dust to let the ship fly – what would she gain from it? Unless… unless James subtly and masterfully manipulated her into thinking it was a great idea, that it would give her the eternal respect of the crew, and perhaps even more from the charming cabin boy.

And that’s why she was so dismissive of Tink and the others coming after her. They abandoned her, and now she’s got someplace she truly belongs. Not necessarily with the crew – while they’re very appreciative of her (or feign to be), they don’t understand her, they don’t share her passion, her inquisitiveness – but with James.

She may not even have envisioned it in a romantic way. It was just… James was her best friend, her most trusted companion, and he adored her. He was her soulmate.

Or so she thought.

I have a different opinion about Zarina’s feelings regarding James. Obviously the part about how he manipulated her loneliness to take advantage of her is fact. She felt like she didn’t belong in Pixie Hollow, so being convinced that someone actually saw her as useful and clever instead of a problem-causer, she really believed James was her true friend…and that was nice, because she needed a friend.

But I just don’t see that there was any romantic feelings or crush there–she never reacts to him or looks at him in such a way that suggests that. Her feelings being betrayed by who she thought was a good friend are no less impactful than if she had a crush on him, so since there’s no evidence of there being romantic feelings I would never read into it that way.

As far as her being dismissive of the girls…That’s true to an extent, however even after she told Tink that this was where she belonged and they took the captured fairies away, you could see her hesitation thinking about it…She doesn’t even make eye contact with James, she just gives him an order and then continues to stare sadly after her former friends were taken.

The only way Zarina’s character can really make sense to me, with regards to how quickly she changes her mind and switches sides, how easily she gets over the mutiny–is if she really cared about her friends from Pixie Hollow more than the pirates (including James) the whole time.

Yeah, she’s chosen to play pirate and commit crimes against the fairy kingdom, but it was because she was rejected by them first, she was still hurt. And she truly doesn’t believe that they value or want her, just that they’re trying to get the blue dust she stole back (which you can see from her shock that Tink trades the blue dust for her freedom/life, and also doesn’t expect that the girls want her to return to PH with them: “We didn’t just come for the dust” happily surprised her.)

So at that point, yeah she’s gonna go with the pirates who apparently do need and respect her. Until they turn against her, and though she’s plainly terrified and upset about that, she’s instantly ready to join the fairy’s side and fight back against the crew. She has no hesitation in taking on James–because while she trusted him back when she thought he was her friend, she didn’t really have that deep of an attachment to him…

That’s just the only way I can interpret the story–Zarina was more heartbroken by being outcast from Pixie Hollow than being betrayed by James, and she cares more about the fairies than she did about him–because otherwise she’s just someone who changes her allegiance so quickly, based on who treats her better at the time?

And I guess I’m just feeling that way where the story is more compelling for me, personally, when at its core it’s about the strong female friendships and the trials they go through, rather than “woman being manipulated and abused by man whom she loved.”

Tink’s heartbreak over Peter is its own thing in the books, where it’s demonstrated how she loved going on adventures with him, and basically the life she lived when she was with him, even though he never really thought of her the same way. Her growth in coming back to Pixie Hollow and rekindling her friendships with the fairies, deciding to stay with the people who actually care about her and treat her well….it hits home!

So IMO we just don’t even need that with Zarina/James, it’s a terrible thing to ship romantically. Peter doesn’t think of anyone but himself but I’d sooner accept shipping him and Tink than Z/J.