#jan van eck (derogatory)

[drieddpetals]

lmao imagine being a servant of the van eck manor. you're working in the mansion under command of a rude, balding merchant who one day gets a new wife who's like half his age. then all of a sudden the teenaged son of the merchant disappears and it's revealed that the new wife is actually pregnant?? i'd be gagged. but it doesn't even end there. the merchant then gets exposed for fraud and abuse of his missing son??? and then he gets arrested for said charges and the missing son takes over his empire and becomes your new boss, the pregnant wife disappears and a very charming zemini man and the thought to be deceased wife of your previous boss move in????? oh and not to mention, now sometimes the most infamous crime lord in the city just shows up at your house. i'd be sat for the drama that's for sure.

[pandemonium-in-the-music-hall]

inej “just you wait til my husband gets home” ghafa

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Councilman Hoede: *Derogatory* You’re nothing like your father

Wylan: Great, that means I’ll win

[dasiesanddarkness]

don't mind me, i'm just crying because i listened to it's time to go by taylor and thought of Wylan Van Eck TvT

[clownshire]

I need a Six of crows spin-off so I can see Jack Wolfe spitting on Van Eck's face

[drieddpetals]

the hate that wylan felt from his father is generational and built on the premise of success equaling carrying the torch of your ancestors.

"jan van eck abused his son because he couldn't read" well yeah, but it's because in jan's mind, not being able to read meant wylan wouldn't continue the family business. if he couldn't continue the family business, he was nothing of worth. i think this gets watered down in the fandom to "wylan can't read so jan hates him" and that's not wrong, but it bothers me a bit because the nuance of it is so much deeper.

i believe there's a line that says this in the duology somewhere, but it's true that if wylan had failed in anything else, jan would have latched on to that and still abused his son. if wylan wasn't a conversationalist, if he was too reckless with money, if he simply didn't want to be a merchant, jan still would have bit into him for it. wylan's abuse is the result of generations of pressure to succeed, it's the result of wealth being equated to worth, its the result of a strict image of normalcy being passed down, it's the result of overbearing forefathers. if jan were to have had a shortcoming somewhere in his childhood, he likely would have received the same fate.

it just goes to show how pointless and heartbreaking wylan's trauma is, because we know that there are other ways to succeed than what jan pushed, and ANY excuse for the abuse wylan received is futile—it was all based on the image of an ancestor who is long dead.

[drieddpetals]

do y'all ever think about the fact that Wylan literally bet Kaz money that Jan wouldn't care if he died, and then went, "Pay up, Kaz." after Jan blew up the ship?? i love him so much he's such a smartass.

also i think about Wylan saying "Maybe you can pray to Ghezen for understanding, Father," when Jan was confused about the whole Kuwei situation about fifteen times a day. it's genuinely one of my favorite Wylan quotes like yes get his ass‼️‼️

[drieddpetals]

(warning: literary analysis ahead) i know i'm not the first person by far to say this, but there are so many similarities between kaz and wylan in six of crows and ESPECIALLY crooked kingdom.

there's obviously the big one of both of them having a re-birth type experience in the harbor, but that's not where the similarity stops. during my ck reread, i noticed that the reason kaz and wylan are in the harbor in the first place is because a father-like figure.

pekka rollins was a father-like figure to both kaz and jordie, and the book says this. the rietveld boys had just lost their father, and one of the big reasons pekka was able to scam jordie and kaz so well is because he provided them with a comforting and parental like space. kaz ofc eventually ends up in the harbor, and it can all be traced back to pekka rollins.

wylan has his rebirth in the harbor due to his father. the connection is more direct with his, but even then there are middle men and other things involved. but again, it can all be traced back to his father.

going off this thought, they both lost a close family member due to a father figure.

another big similarity i found that i feel like i haven't seen anyone talk about his what kaz and wylan are both motivated by: revenge.

wylan does not start off the books being motivated by revenge. he ends up in the barrel and with the crows out of a desperation to both hide from his father and because he genuinely has no where else to go. later on in ck, after wylan finds his mother at saint hilde, the book very clearly states that his motivation changes. at the begining of chapter 31, there's a scene where wylan is staring at himself in the mirror. there are lines that say, "What am I doing here? But he knew the answer. Only he could see his father punished for what he'd done. Only he could see his mother freed." which drives me INSANE!! because it's a DIRECT PARELLEL to things kaz says/feels about jordie!! in the chapter right before that (30) there's a line that says, "He'd found his way to shore, devoted himself to the vengeance he and his brother were owed." (there are other and better lines that reference wylan's "only he could *take revenge*" line, but this is just the closest one that comes to mind)

there are differences between their motives—you could say that kaz's revenge motive is more direct and violent—but there's also the fact that we see both kaz and wylan get their revenge in the book.

both kaz and wylan want revenge for one of their family members, and themselves, from what a father figure in their life has done.

they've also both been kidnapped by jan/held in captivity by him. i know this happens to inej too, but i think it's important that one of the first scenes we see with kaz is him negotiating with jan after being captured by him, and then towards the very end of the series, we (very simplified and on the surface) see the same thing happening to wylan. i know the two jan captivity scenes with kaz and wylan are very different, but i think the basic similarity of these scenes really attest to how far wylan has come and how much he's been assimilated into the crows.

there's also of course the part where wylan's expression is said to be something that looks kaz-like, which i feel also shows how far he's come and how he's truely developed into a crow.

in conclusion, as others have said, they truely are two sides of the same coin. they're so different but so alike, and i absolutely love how leigh bardugo was able to directly juxstapose wylan and kaz when they're so different on the surface.