#Also the complete foil reversal of Tommy grind from oblivious and vulnerable>scared and wary

[nomsfaultau]

Mmm haven’t posted the chapter of Lord, what fools these mortals be! where Fae!Kristin shows up but I want to ramble about characterization so. Ahh. Anyway, fae!Philza is pretty upfront with his creepy fairy shtick. Incredibly possessive, clearly operating on an alien morality system (or lack there of), oscillating between kindness and a cruel apathy for Tommy’s feelings. Kristin though….she’s a LOT more subtle. There’s warning signs of course, such as the sudden extreme violence. Philza had that too, of course, but never directed at the kid he’s trying to manipulate. But Kristin gets away with it. She wants them to survive, of course. She’s just trying to make them better. And it clearly works. Kristin’s just so nice, and over protective, and clearly lonely. She’s frequently reassuring to Wilbur and Technoblade but it’s in a way that hides her true plan if not her intentions. No, she’s very clear about wanting their souls forever, but all her blatant tactics are decoys. She’s far more subtle than Philza. She gives Wil and Techno everything they want till they don’t even consider leaving even as they’re determined to never fall into the obvious, fun traps, the type they joke about at dinners so the men feel like they’re outwitting her while all the while she’s unraveling their character flaws until they’re fully ensnared. She designs the rules of the game to mold them into her perfect children. Little details piling up until it’s revealed she’s completely altered their bodies until they’re unrecognizable as human, so slowly neither even noticed. And she’s shaped their thoughts for decades to the point they don’t even care. Why should they? She’s just trying to make them better. And it’s Kristin that reveals why the Fae rulers even need children: they keep accidentally murdering their kids. It’s why she’s so over protective. It’s why she wanted Techno and Wil to be better, promised them power in a way that was honey poison to their ambitions and made them prisoners of the fae world no matter how free they thought they were.

That’s the real difference between Fae Phil and Kristin. All three Neapolitan trio felt scared, but Tommy was never given the illusion of protecting himself while in actuality only endangering himself further. His fear saved him.

And that’s why Tommy’s going to escape, while Techno and Wilbur willingly go back.