some important and underrated lines in the books, related to wylan van eck (aka gold that i found again while writing the character study fic):
Wylan took a deep breath as if sucking in courage and sputtered, “You won’t throw me overboard. You need me.”
--- Six of Crows, Chapter 13. when i say wylan is unhinged, i mean he had the audacity to lie to kaz brekker (who doesn't know yet that wylan isn't the best hostage) AND use that lie to go against kaz AND actually win. jesper only notices wylan lying to kaz in the second book, but despite being wide-eyed as matthias describes, wylan's been lying to kaz from the very beginning. throughout the books, wylan gets better and better at using people's assumptions of him as a weapon/tool, and he admits as much when jesper says: "i'm going to stop underestimating you", and wylan replies: "then you're going to be a lot harder to surprise."
While Kaz explained and Jesper used the laundry shears to portion out pieces of rope, Wylan helped Inej and Nina prepare. To pass as members of the Menagerie, they would need tattoos.
--- Six of Crows, Chapter 28. wylan is CANONICALLY a tattoo artist. demolitionist. poisons expert. musician. and tattoo artist. do with that what you will
“I don’t like the idea of killing people, either. I don’t even like chemistry.”
--- Six of Crows, Chapter 32. HE LIKES NUMBERS. and music. and jesper. there's just something about wylan being forced into chemistry when he doesn't truly enjoy it, vs. everything his father's forced him to do when he doesn't truly enjoy it. he says this right after the we could wake him up line, and him mentioning that he doesn't even like what he's been doing all along underscores how much wylan's ruthlessness comes from a place where he doesn't want to be cruel. he's just. had to do a lot of things to survive. and he does want to survive
Gunfire sounded from above. Apparently, Wylan had found the controls. ... Wylan had scratches from the glass all over his cheeks and neck. He was beaming.
--- Six of Crows, Chapter 39. wylan is unhinged. truly. and i love him, really. he was really the first to figure out how to fire the tank. him, not jesper, which was a choice i very much approve of
He should be making a plan, maybe even plotting revenge, trying to gather his wits and his resources. And what was he doing? Wishing he could ring for tea... Whatever it took to survive the Barrel, Wylan knew he didn’t have it.
--- Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 23. first, wylan wishing he could ring for tea, vs. the parallel in the show where he offers the crows tea. second, wylan being painfully honest with himself. but third, he ends the chapter being able to navigate the streets of the barrel himself without knowing how to read the signs, which really reflects his amazingly good memory and skill for thinking along three axes, like the lockpick kaz compared him to
“Yes,” Wylan said, that one word imbued with a whole world of hope. “But I don’t have anything to bargain with.”
--- Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 28. wylan's spent so long bargaining for his life that by the time he meets genya, he doesn't believe he has anything left to bargain with. but wylan still tries, AND when he succeeds, he still has the audacity to get genya to make him look better
in conclusion, wylan might be shy but that doesn't mean he isn't scheming something, but that doesn't mean he wants to scheme, but that doesn't mean he isn't good at scheming. he's excellent at it, he's just an unhinged ball of contradictions, and wylan would, could, and should beat kaz in a chess match
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Jon during the cabin in scotland era either learning or being reminded he can understand animals and accidentally befriending their local murder of crows. martin finds him sitting out on the lawn surrounded by them, one sitting on his arm, looking completely like a disney princess.
"mahtin they're hungry and would like some bread. you baked bread today right? can they have some?"
"mahtin her wing is broken and she's crying can you find any popsicle sticks? im trying to convince the eye to tell me what I can use as a painkiller for her"
"mahtin look!! they brought us gifts :) they like us!!!" (is holding out hair ties bc he complained about his hair falling in his face Once and a couple shiny rocks bc he babbles about martin non stop to them and tattled about his rock collection)
martin absolutely adores jon's little antics with the crows and finds it absolutely adorable and hilarious. the crows love hanging out with jon and grow fond of martin through jon's absolutely undying mushy gushy love.
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