krakenjoy

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Stobotnik editors chill the fuck out because you're making me SOB!

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Nico GOATenberg!!!!!

P5!!!!!!!!!

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nico p1 stop the clock

oof p3 now

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gossip in the paddock

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Everybody stand up! The most correct, logical and reasonable ship in SW is coming!

Hux x Anakin

Because I can afford it

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I'm almost done with work so I can start writing

I don't know if this will get as far as the last arc, I planned it to be open-ended. It's more of a character study, how you come to terms with who you are and what you've done- maybe more for Syril.

If I figure it out anyway.

The working title is 'Lights on' to contrast with 'Turn the lights off'- now that they have to confront the truth.

I should be studying but...

An alternate universe where Syril survives. I don't know if he gets to confront Cassian here or how he (or Cassian) gets out of it. But he's found by troopers and forcibly taken back inside the building. Back to Dedra. Maybe he tries to attack her. He's sedated and brought back to Coruscant. She has no real use for him now, but she can't bear killing him or putting him in an asylum or prison.

I don't know if he's regarded as a hero. Most likely he's portrayed as a survivor. Maybe Dedra spins it so he was trying to rescue some Imperial staff or soldiers, even puts out statements about how barbaric the Ghormans were for him in the news. Eedy still berates him for being reckless when she finally gets to meet him in person or over space zoom. Under Dedra's watch of course, but she doesn't have to. Eedy doesn't need further convincing to know that her son is a true hero of the Empire.

Syril is officially on indefinite sick leave. The shock is too much for him. He is recuperating in his apartment. He spends his days in the bedroom, resting staring into space and thinking over and over again about Ghorman and Ferrix and the Empire and who he is and everything else what he's done and what's even right or wrong or true or false and how much he hates Andor and her and himself. He is lucky to have a dutiful partner who cares about him. She is patient with him- she feeds him, clothes him, bathes him- poor Syril is too unstable to use his hands. It's for his own safety. She talks to him even though he doesn't respond or look at her. When he wakes up screaming, she's always there to hold him close and whisper words of comfort. She even sets up cameras to see if he's safe when she's not at home. Maybe one day he'll get well enough to walk outside into the living room. Or maybe they can go to the park together. Or shopping or to a restaurant. And people will see how perfectly fine they are, and how much they love each other and the Empire.

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All these posts about "why do people like Syril Karn? He's a bad person."

Well, let's see: there's a literary trope that's been used for thousands of years called the tragic hero. Tragic heroes are not necessarily good people. But they are interesting people. And they are passionate about one thing. Whatever that one thing is can be different for each character, but in every case they have a clear purpose and a strength of character that allows them to focus on that one thing. Often, that one thing is their understanding of justice or right and wrong (Antigone, Hamlet, Syril). They have a single-minded focus on it that makes it difficult for them to see anything else.

And that focus destroys them.

A lot of humans can identify with passion and with feeling they are right. So it makes a compelling story to see somebody who is passionate and thinks they are right actually turn out to be wrong (or maybe be right in some sense, but go about things in such a way that makes things worse for themselves and/or others). It's scary! It's sad! And it is those things because we wonder if we might be on the same path.

Tragic heroes can cause us to reflect on our lives and our choices, and to question what we believe is true. They do so by plugging into people's empathy, not by argument or logic about, "Perhaps you should consider this other perspective." That's what makes them powerful. And it's a big reason why people love them.

"But Syril is basically a [Trump loyalist/Stasi officer/Jan 6 insurrectionist/etc]. You wouldn't like him in real life!"

No shit, Sherlock. We wouldn't like him in real life because we can't live inside other people's heads in real life, or experience the things that they experience--and also because those people may be causing us real life harm.

But we like him in art because art allows us to experience life through other people's eyes. It's one of the big points of art.

And one of the big benefits of art is that the characters in it aren't causing us real world harm, so we can risk empathizing with them. We don't need to worry that our empathy will lead us to do something unwise that will allow the person to hurt us further. Because they're not real!

And you know what feels good? It feels good to understand people and things and motives and worldviews that were previously inexplicable to you.

So: it's art. That's why people like Syril Karn.

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Ok, here we go:

Some people sympathize with or pity Syril, because he's a well written character. He has positive traits, a backstory and experiences that they can understand or relate to, and most of all, people want to believe humans are good after all and can change.

Syril wants approval and recognition. He feels strongly about 'justice and order', likely due to his upbringing: lack of positive father figure or mentor influence, a mother who puts all her hopes and success on him and knows that he can do better yet berates him instead of showing appreciation and doesn't care about what he wants, low socioeconomic status, instability during the clone wars and transition to the Empire, and Imperial propaganda. He is dedicated to his beliefs, pays attention to detail, goes above and beyond to complete tasks, and perseveres in his efforts-which he'd be praised, admired and respected for if he was on the side of the good guys. If he was in a stereotypical copaganda show, he would absolutely be the hero.

However, due to insecurities (partly) resulted by his background, with the main one being desperate for approval, he is extremely obsessive and blind to any outside views or contrary evidence: he's selfish and self-righteous, he's strictly adherent to authority and is either afraid to confront it or see its corruption (he objects to his boss ignoring the deaths of his coworkers, but doesn't report him), he pents up his anger at his or whatever situation he perceives as unjust and releases that fury and lack of control with occasional violence over people less powerful than him (in Dedra's case, he's angry at bring deceived and betrayed), he is unable to reflect on others' stories (like why is the Empire building an armoury), and more importantly, he can't question his own beliefs and possibly goes to lengths to justify himself (over his 2 years on Ghorman, he has shown that he appreciates their culture, he has attachments to them, especially the Rylanzes which he has a more familial connection to, as he tells Enza to leave before the massacre. They accept him and tell him about their perspectives and struggles, but Syril is unable to understand/empathize with them or take their beliefs and compare them with his views of the Empire and analyze them- even if he has, he finds a way to justify himself as in the right), which turns out to be his fatal flaw. He runs into the crowd not because he wants to join Enza and the Ghorman front, but because he's lost and confused as everything he knows is wrong: his mission to root out outside agitators was false (yet he doesn't realize or doesn't accept that he's the outside agitator), Dedra lied to and betrayed him, the Empire was not as just and orderly as he thought (from their ulterior motive to clear the planet for mining to their actions: pulling an inside job on the Naval depot, placing mining equipment, the increased security, amount of troops and their positions around the plaza)- his whole worldview has collapsed. He just wants to run away.

Even then, the thing that snaps him out of is trance is Andor. His obsession. The reason why Syril went to Ferrix to arrest him and lost his job. His hatred for him, a criminal who's evaded the law, starts the whole plot. However, Cassian doesn't even know who he is. And the armour piercing question, 'who are you', completely shatters Syril's entire identity. During the last 10 or so minutes, he's finally starting to question everything. His obsession and all the construction he's put into it- the planning, the justifications, the cognitive dissonance, the burning hatred and justice and revenge is gone. He has nothing left. He doesn't even know who he is, what he wants, what he believes in, what he should do. Him putting down the blaster was ambiguous, but I think it was in shock. We will never know because he never gets to a conclusion, which is the real tragedy and why many feel for him: because he never really realized anything and never figured out who he was, and never will.

Star Wars is no stranger to redemption arcs. Vader sacrificed himself to save Luke. When Kallus realized he was wrong, he helped the Rebels and defected. There's a reason why redemption arcs are so popular, especially in Star Wars or other media based on classic hero stories of good vs evil, because people want to believe that they are good and others are good as well, and we can all change for the better, even when real life is complicated and grey. Syril had opportunities to see through the Empire's narrative, but he never did. Kyle's said that Syril wouldn't defect or remain in the empire if he had the time and chance to really think it out; he would run away. Javert from Les Miserables, a inspiration for Syril's character, after being proved wrong after Valjean, the criminal who he's been chasing spares his life, chooses to let him go when the meet for the final time, but he also cannot reconcile his and Valjean's actions with his belief in the law and his black and white worldview, and kills himself (which was illegal back then). In real life, many soldiers or collaborators or average citizens never regretted their actions or beliefs. Some accepted that they committed wrongs and tried to be better people or made amends. Others lived in denial and preferred to never think or speak of it.

Syril has done many bad things. However, there are many worse examples in Star Wars. Palpatine is a fascist. Darth Vader is a fascist. Thrawn is a fascist. In spite of their atrocities, they're widely beloved by the fanbase, because they're again, well written and have traits or abilities that are considered admirable, or their demeanor or actions are seen as cool or badass. Palpatine is completely evil. Vader has regrets, but he's resigned to continue doing Palpatine's bidding until the end. Thrawn serves the Empire for the benefit of the Chiss. And yet, it's not uncommon for Vader and Kallus to receive sympathy. Perhaps it's the same case as Dolores Umbridge, where you're more likely to meet a simpering, power abusing administrator or a rigid and pompous employee. But they are humans after all, and we can see why they behave or think that way, how power and a corrupt system corrupts anyone.

Ultimately, Syril is a tragic and incredibly flawed average person, with qualities and experiences that some can sympathize or relate to or even root for, because we all want to be good people and believe others are too. He's a morality tale of blind obsession and faith in authority, not critically thinking about the world around us and refusing to entertain the fact we can be wrong, and how the systems we devote ourselves to can toss us aside once we've outlived our purpose.

The amount of sympathy Syril is getting is shocking to me. It seems like the majority of fans were of the belief that he was gonna flip sides and become a rebel. To me it was very obvious that Syril is an empire loyalist. He's someone who staunchly believes that the empire is good, and that's been a major trait of his character since he was introduced. He thinks the empire is a great thing and he wants to feel like he plays a significant role in the empire. He takes his bullshit jobs way too seriously because he's looking for power and respect. He demands that he be treated more important than he actually is. This is the guy that stalked Dedra because he was in awe at her power and wanted her to listen to him. This is the guy who went against his boss's orders and had his own men killed on a rogue mission just so he could feel like he did something. This is the same guy who dedicated he personally had to solve the Andor case and follow up on it even though he no longer had the authority to. This is the guy who LITERALLY SAID the best day of his life was the day he infiltrated a rebel group and became a permanent mole for the empire. This guy was NEVER going to be turned. He is the prime example of how ordinary people protect a harmful system because they believe it to be right and because that system offers them some benefit. Even though Syril got rejected time and time again he still believed in the empire because the opportunity for success was always available, an ever open door that would allow Syril to actually become someone. Syril dies the death he deserves. He's unceremoniously murdered in an event so chaotic that his death is nothing more than another one to add to the already high death toll. No one witnesses his death, no one calls out his name in a panic, nothing. He does quickly and alone.

Syril was never a hero, he was never a rebel. He was an imperial bootlicker and generally a slime of a human being.

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I should be studying but...

An alternate universe where Syril survives. I don't know if he gets to confront Cassian here or how he (or Cassian) gets out of it. But he's found by troopers and forcibly taken back inside the building. Back to Dedra. Maybe he tries to attack her. He's sedated and brought back to Coruscant. She has no real use for him now, but she can't bear killing him or putting him in an asylum or prison.

I don't know if he's regarded as a hero. Most likely he's portrayed as a survivor. Maybe Dedra spins it so he was trying to rescue some Imperial staff or soldiers, even puts out statements about how barbaric the Ghormans were for him in the news. Eedy still berates him for being reckless when she finally gets to meet him in person or over space zoom. Under Dedra's watch of course, but she doesn't have to. Eedy doesn't need further convincing to know that her son is a true hero of the Empire.

Syril is officially on indefinite sick leave. The shock is too much for him. He is recuperating in his apartment. He spends his days in the bedroom, resting staring into space and thinking over and over again about Ghorman and Ferrix and the Empire and who he is and everything else what he's done and what's even right or wrong or true or false and how much he hates Andor and her and himself. He is lucky to have a dutiful partner who cares about him. She is patient with him- she feeds him, clothes him, bathes him- poor Syril is too unstable to use his hands. It's for his own safety. She talks to him even though he doesn't respond or look at her. When he wakes up screaming, she's always there to hold him close and whisper words of comfort. She even sets up cameras to see if he's safe when she's not at home. Maybe one day he'll get well enough to walk outside into the living room. Or maybe they can go to the park together. Or shopping or to a restaurant. And people will see how perfectly fine they are, and how much they love each other and the Empire.

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I'm so numb. I'm shaking.

The identity crisis arrived too late...

So many what ifs and who knows.

Goodnight Syril.

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imagine a fic where kevin comes to races in between wec rounds and is nico's guest in the garage and they're just. doing everything together all weekend and everyone notices but no one works out that they're dating and have decided to stop actively hiding it... delicious

hello anon this got out of hand and ended up not really what you sent in but alas... 600 and then some words of kevin visiting nico at sauber

“Better than the Haas garage, right?” Nico asks, looking down at Kevin. He’s sitting in one of Sauber’s—admittedly outrageously comfortable—armchairs, littered all throughout hospitality. There’s even one in the corner of the garage. Nico’s never seen it get used so far, but it’s there.

Kevin’s hand moves back and forth across the armrest. He looks lost in thought for a moment and then mutters a soft “Yeah.”

It is better than the Haas garage. It’s better than the Haas hospitality. And Nico thinks he gets what’s weighing down on Kevin, just a bit—it’s better than Haas. But it’s not Haas.

It’s not theirs.

Nico swallows.

Come to Sauber with me. (An innocent suggestion. A selfish one.)

I can’t. (Not a rejection, not to Nico. An excuse. A sign of being scared of what they could be.)

Why not? I talked to Andreas, he would, he will, I swear. He’s considering it, for real. (Nico doesn’t want Carlos. Nico doesn’t want whatever Formula Two prodigy they can fish out of the sewers that is lower Formulae.)

I already signed somewhere else. (Said after a sigh, said with guilt. Resignation. Said with something else, too, that hurts so much more than the admission itself. Said with hope. Said with relief.)

Where?

World Endurance. (Two words that are not ‘Formula One’. Two words that are not what Nico wants to hear.)

“Well, I still have time before FP2,” Nico says next, and tries not to sound too desperate. He can see it tear Kevin out of his daydreams. Can see that it didn’t work, and that Kevin is indulging him.

Kevin smiles up at Nico. His smile isn’t heavy, isn’t imposing. It’s gentle. It’s reserved for Nico.

“Sure. What did you have in mind?”

Anything you want. Whatever you want. “Uh, dunno. We can just hang out, right?”

Like he’s seventeen and not thirty-seven. Having to keep from wringing his hands, so tightly lodged into his pockets.

Kevin’s smile widens, and it makes his eyes crinkle. “Yeah. Of course we can.”

How are you liking BMW? ( say it’s bad say it’s bad say it’s bad. say you want to come back to me )

It’s great. The guys are awesome.

That’s nice. Yeah. That’s good.

How’s Sauber?

(Lonely.) It’s good.

That’s good.

Yeah.

Nico closes the door to his room in hospitality quietly. He’s not sure what they’re going to be doing here, the room small, offering little, but he hopes-

Kevin is just a bit too close, his hand reaching out to take Nico’s. Fingers against each other, playful, so useless and aimless. Just to touch.

And Nico sees his invitation there, leaning down to press his lips to Kevin’s. His other hand moves to cradle the back of Kevin’s neck, the side of his face.

The feeling’s familiar, it’s comforting. Nico doesn’t think he’ll ever tire of it.

And Kevin is slow, is measured about it. Making up for all the time away with patience that Nico doesn’t have. No, Nico always wants more. He wants to crawl into Kevin’s chest to curl up there, surrounded by the beating of his heart; wants to watch the world through the gutters of his ribs.

Not that Kevin would ever let that happen—would never think to cage Nico like that. Nico knows this. Nico appreciates this. Appreciates that Kevin is there to bring him back down, stomp his overeagerness and just hold him gently, for what he is. For what he is without coating himself in Kevin’s blood.

“I miss you,” Nico admits quietly.

“You don’t have to,” Kevin responds, his fingers massaging the nape of Nico’s neck. “I’m right here.”

And he is.

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they make me crazy

song: Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart- Mitski

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that feeling when you have a rough idea and outline for a fic but you don't know how to start it or what exact words to use to convey that feeling/atmosphere or to make things flow better

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Look! Baby Hux!!

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I don't think we as a community paid enough attention to the fact that the entire grid became haasbands shippers in 2024. multiple drivers made jokes about how kevin would come hunt them down if they messed with nico. commentators made constant remarks on how kevin put himself in the line of fire for nico. hell, retired drivers commented on their exceptional teamwork. kevin did everything to get nico the best chances and nico was always the first to comment on any good performance from kevin.

throw away any other F1 teammate pairings, this was iconic.

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Love your work and analyses! I started watching F1 after Miami, so I'm still catching up. I wonder if you could share your thoughts on this:

During the Abu Dhabi 2024 GP, Nico Rosberg said that one reason for Nico's missed podium opportunities was because 'he wasn't the best socially and burnt some bridges early on in his career'. It's obvious that he missed out on going to Mercedes, but could Nico R think that lack of social intelligence was behind him sitting out in 2011, and the sudden swap to Sauber in 2013 before returning to Force India in 2014?

Also, I think in your earlier posts, you mentioned that Williams era Nico was quite shy and uncomfortable in interviews, then he cultivated this cool and uh, 'macho metrosexual masculine man' media persona, and made jokes and comments that can sound quite insensitive or mean. Even now, he still seems to be uncomfortable with them. That and not liking interviews are completely understandable, but do you think that this and his more insecure personality have affected his career? He's my favorite driver along with Kevin and I really want them both to succeed.

Thank you!

link to the article: https://www.planetf1.com/news/nico-rosberg-nico-hulkenberg-flaws-daniel-ricciardo-not-very-best

thank you, I'm happy to hear it can resonate with people

I saw rosberg's comment a while ago but never actually gave it much thought, so this is a prime opportunity. while it's always good to assign a certain amount of salt to statements like this (especially if coming from rosberg lol), I'm going to take him at his word for the sake of this. here is the article if anyone would like to read it themselves

of course we have no way of knowing, as I don't think there are any publicly confirmed falling outs he had with people in the motorsport realm. but what we can do is try examining his career critically with this in mind, and considering if something might have been a case of nico being a little bit socially challenged and mucking something up.

now, I think rosberg might be talking about stuff that happened really early into nico's career. there were certainly some ups and downs to that time. he had a lot of good connections in the likes of willi webber (formerly michael schumacher's manager), frank williams and flavio briatore. even if a lot of that came about through w. webber, he knew some big names in motorsport.

nico drove for williams in a test for them in 2007, which happened after w. webber failed to secure a test with renault & briatore. we don't know why he failed to get nico that test, but there is a chance w. webber & nico & briatore did not get on very well for whatever possible reason after this, and that it consequently closed some doors at renault for him/made him "get stuck" with williams.

then, w. webber and nico parted ways in 2011, the year nico was a reserve and out of a drive for the first time. at the time he often said he was happier without a manager, which to me reads as a passive aggressive jab at w. webber. on top of the obvious implications that come with parting from him in the first place. maybe if he had left those comments out a reconciliation would have been possible. it's hard to tell considering w. webber left f1 completely after 2012.

at first I also thought this year as a reserve might be a burned bridge because he decided to be force india's reserve and not williams. and of course there is the possibility he was upset with frank williams and really burned a bridge there while acting impulsively.

ferrari is unlikely to be a burned bridge because it seemed to have been a mix between sponsorships and nico's height making him harder to accommodate than alonso & massa, who were of similar stature and would therefore have similar needs.

mercedes is of course interesting because you would at least think that rosberg might have had additional insight, and that that's where this comment was born from. I believe the mercedes deal he missed out on is also the one with the least public knowledge regarding it. it's in my opinion likely he simply missed out on it because he was competing with lewis hamilton (duh), and nico rosberg (who was already an established part of the team at that point, and had previously come out on top against schumacher in the point standings all three years that they were teammates). but we can't actually know, and there is the possibility he fucked something royally with toto wolff--be that before that lead to him failing to secure that contract, or after, born out of hurt/insecurity.

I don't think you can consider force india and all that it became a burned bridge. he left and returned three times. they clearly liked him, unless you want to think they all hated each other but didn't have any other options. which, even that, at least once they turned into racing point and aston martin, would have been naught.

there is a chance nico did not depart from renault in 2019 on the most amicable of terms, and fucked it with cyril abiteboul, but we obviously cannot gauge the extent of that. as far as I'm aware, nico made some comments against cyril, cyril made some comments against nico, but that was kinda it. I don't even know if further relations with renault were ever on the table after he left, so this might even be fully irrelevant.

if we want to make this really depressing, though, we could look at red bull. he lost the battle against checo for the seat in 2021, and hasn't really been talked about since. there's the possibility that happened because rbr simply were never looking that closely at him, or that they considered that a closed chapter after they passed up on him. there is the possibility the reason he never got considered when checo's tenure at rbr started going sour is because they simply wanted to commit to their junior team and driver's academy. and there is the possibility he fucked something with them in 2021, and christian horner has since closed all doors there. I'm not very partial to any of these options, but I figure might as well mention it.

and before I forget them--sauber is probably not really anything either. yes he was with them for that single year, and did not commit to them like he maybe should have, but it's clearly not relevant anymore and likely wouldn't have been since peter sauber retired.

tldr; I think there is a good chance rosberg is talking about willi webber. if we consider that rosberg is speaking from a mercedes background, something could have happened with wolff. independently of where it's the most likely he actually messed things up, though, nico had a lot of opportunities to fuck things.

you are right that I mentioned nico being more uncomfortable in front of cameras when he was younger, and I do stand by that (as well as him deciding to lay it on thick in later years). but I can't really say how much it would have affected his career. before liberty media and smb it wasn't that important to be mass marketable, to be on social media, to have a presence like that. you can still see this in the driver's from that era.

I can't really say if he is still uncomfortable with them. on one hand I think after fifteen years he would have needed to get used to them eventually. but on the other hand he has gotten really good at treating all the media stuff as a routine thing where he picks one of his five dialogue options and leaves it at that. considering he also talked not too long ago about how he considers the majority of his f1 career not pleasant or entertaining, I'd say it's probably a mix of both. because yes, he likely thinks of his career like that because of the statistics and shit teams and forever midfield he got stuck in--but always being forced in front of cameras when you don't like them wouldn't be helping either. though I'll also say that we move far into conjecture territory when it comes to determining if a driver is comfortable or not with something. we can pick up vibes, but they're always going to be influenced by our own personal experiences and thoughts. personally; yes, I would say he is still not comfortable with them, but he has learned to deal with that, and has acquired the skillset to navigate this obstacle.

as for being insecure, that one is really hard to separate from his career. quite the opposite. the social problems rosberg thinks he had/has would have been intrinsically tied to this, if not born majorly from it. but I also believe that insecurity is entirely human, and as you get older you learn to deal with it, and learn to do things despite still being insecure. so it's probably not nearly as relevant as it would have been fifteen to twenty years ago.

thank you for the ask! this was a lot of fun to reflect on.