#bc darkstalker is a fucking ass and i aint ashamed to say it

[canon-critical]

⇲Date Posted: January 15th, 2021

⇲Source: wings of fire (book) by tui t sutherland, canon

⇲Posted/Sent by: canon-critical

⇲Includes: mentions of abuse, victim blaming, mentions of genocide, very very brief mention of slavery

⇲ Criticism: the treatment of abuse victims in canon and the harmful messages surrounding it

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you wanna know what really pisses me off and what people need to talk about more? about how wings of fire repeatedly pushes the idea that not forgiving your abusers is a horrible thing.

it might not seem like it at first, but if you spend even a minute looking at how abusers and their victims are treated in canon youll see what i mean in no time.

characters who DIDNT forgive their abusers

darkstalker - (rightfully) refused to forgive his abuser and its treated as a villainous trait. yes, darkstalker is an assand deserves no sympathy, and he has million other villainous traits and ways to treat him as a villain, but the fact that he doesnt forgive arctic is treated like one when its not.

tsunami - didnt forgive the guardians. she didnt forgive kestrel for everything she put them through or dune and webs for just standing by, and as a result canon treats her like shes being unreasonable for it. like shes just "holding onto a childish grudge"

glory - kestrel full on physically and verbally abused her for 6 straight years. kestrel was planning to KILL HER. and webs and dune just sat back and willingly did nothing. so they escape and glory, ofc, doesnt forgive any of them and shows no remorse when kestre dies and webs is hurt, which she is 100% in the right for. but what does the story do? treats her like shes being "cruel" and "unfair" for it

characters who did forgive their abusers or tolerate them

peril, clay, starflight, sunny, anemone, turtle, cricket, probably a handful of others with tui's track record

yes, moving on from the past is important and i could maybe forgive it if it was only one or two or if both were treated as a fair option (which it IS*), but it isnt. 3 characters** dont forgive their abusers, and theyre viewed as harsh for it. I DONT CARE how much you like these books or want to defend them. this series has an target demographic of 8-12 year olds, kids who still have a lot of growing to do. it doesnt matter how "mature" a child may be. when that kind of message, that you MUST forgive those whove wronged and seriousky hurt you no matter what or youre being unreasonable, is shown over and over again in a story and neither the story or fandom acknowledges that its wrong and an actual problem? that kind of shit sticks throughout that kid's life.

it wouldve still been bad if the message was used for smaller stuff like an accidental insult or a joke that hit too close to home, but the fact that its being used for ABUSIVE relationships and situations makes it so much worse.

dont even get me started on the darkstalker -> peacemaker thing, which pushes the whole "no matter how bad you are you deserve a second chance" message. that message is bad enough on its own considering how it can be applied to so many bad people (abusers being the one at the forefrony of my mind), its ESPECIALLY bad for darkstalker.

why? for a whole list of reasons including his actions and how he manipulated and abused and routinely threatened his family, his girlfriend, and his friends in order to get what he wants, but for 2 main ones.

1) HE ALREADY HAD SEVERAL "SECOND CHANCES. in his book, darkstalker legends, its shown that hes know about the paths from the moment he hatched. he knew which path was the bad one, and he willingly ignored the good path. i could maybe excuse that one considering hes pretty much the human equivalent of a newborn, but he keeps this choice as he grows despite by then having the ability to seperate right vs wrong. second and third chance? both times clearsight told him what would happen and asked him to stop. what did darkstalker do in response to this? the first time he brushed it off and told her to stop thinking about it. then 2nd time he spells her without her consent in order to FORCE her to stop thinking about it. his fourth chance? when he was released from the mountain. what did he do with THAT chance? betrayred moon's trust, forced everyone to like him, and went right back to doing what got him buried in the first place.

2) he literally tried to commit genocide against an entire tribe. twice. three times, if you count the night/ice battle. he has said/shown that he has no remorse whatsoever for his actions, and would do it again if given the chance. saying he deserves a 5th chance sends a message that souldnt be sent, especially to kids as young as 8-12.

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*it IS a valid choice. you are under NO obligation whatsoever to forgive your abuser, or try to make them "better people". they hurt you, and youre allowed to be angry. youre allowed to be upset about it. not forgiving them doesnt mean youre being unfair or that you cant "move on" or whatever other bullshit. theyre the ones who hurt you, theyre the ones who can deal with the consequences.

**3 characters, excluding any from arc 3. there are a few reasons for this. the first is that the arc isnt done. yes, sundew is a victim of abuse, but since the arc isnt done i have no idea if shell forgive her parents, or if itll be treated as being unfair id she doesnt. the second is that with the exception of cricket (who does forgive her abuse), the third arc doesnt really have any ties to abuse. it has to do with slavery. and how canon treats that issue is a whole different can of worms ill be opening for a different crit (spoiler alert: it isnt treated well)